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James Mason: Hollywood
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After another triumphant appearance in Carol Reed's Irish suspense thriller, "Odd Man Out" (1947), the brooding, gifted Mason became Britain's biggest star, moving to Hollywood soon after. Although Southern California softened his rougher edges, he soon reaffirmed his niche as an urbane matinee idol with a dark side. This persona was exploited to international success in the Cukor-Garland remake of "A Star Is Born" (1954), with Mason playing complex, Barrymore-style monster Norman Maine (a role which Cary Grant had turned down).
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Returning to Hollywood acting, Mason garnered numerous accolades for George Cukor's lavish 1954 remake of A Star Is Born. Though the drama of his co-star Judy Garland's "comeback" and the studio's decision to re-cut the film after its debut threatened to overshadow its content, Mason's sublimely controlled fury and anguish as doomed falling star Norman Maine still brought him high praise and earned him his only Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Whether because he never particularly liked the film or because he wasn't a great fan of the Hollywood system, Mason dismissed the Oscar hoopla, noting:
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In 1948 Mason arrived in Hollywood with his wife Pamela. His Hollywood career was always chequered and these early years were no exception with his first five films all turning out to be flops. His prospects improved with his performance as Rommel in the 1951 film Desert Fox and his success as Brutus in Julius Caesar (1953). In1954 he made A Star in Born with Judy Garland, bringing him the first of three Oscar nominations. This success propelled him onto the Hollywood 'A list', and he was approached by Disney to play Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which he reluctantly agreed to when the money became too good to refuse!
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Edging away from Hollywood, Mason took a supporting role in the British drama The Trials of Oscar Wilde in 1960. Having retained his British citizenship during his years in America, he left Hollywood permanently two years later, relocating to Switzerland with his family. After the move, Mason took on the challenge of playing agonized pedophile Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. Whether duping clueless mother Shelley Winters into marriage, lusting after her teenage daughter Sue Lyon, or helplessly pursuing rival pervert Peter Sellers, Mason's Humbert was as much broken victim as scheming predator, injecting uneasy emotion into the difficult role.
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* Before James took the part of Norman Maine in A Star in Born it had already been turned down by Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. The feeling in Hollywood at the time was that the unreliable Judy Garland and her producer husband Sid Luft were not up to the job and the film would be a disaster.
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