Marsha Mason Movies
A former dancer and New York theater star, Marsha Mason never quite reached the heights of stardom suggested by her early film career. Still she remains a respected supporting and occasional leading Hollywood actress and has four Oscar nominations to prove it. In film, Mason started out playing bit parts. She also appeared on television in such series as Dr. Kildare. She had her first substantial film role in Hot Rod Hulaballoo (1966). Her first big break came after she traveled to San Francisco to appear in an American Conservatory Theater production of Private Lives directed by Francis Ford Coppola. While on the West Coast she played a supporting role in Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love (1973). It was her stage work, however, that led filmmaker Mark Rydell to cast her as a pregnant single mother who prostitutes herself in Seattle in Cinderella Liberty (1973). She beat out Barbra Streisand, the studio's choice, for the role and won her first Academy Award nomination. Her second nomination came from her portrayal of a divorced chorine trying to support herself and her daughter while dealing with a series of failed romances in Neil Simon's comedy-drama The Goodbye Girl (1977). She and Simon were married at the time and the famed playwright wrote the part especially for her. Mason's co-star, Richard Dreyfuss, won a Best Actor Oscar. Simon wrote the screenplay for the film responsible for Mason's third Oscar nomination, Chapter Two (1979), which was an autobiographical account of their courtship. He also penned the part that landed her a fourth nomination, Only When I Laugh (1981). Through the '80s, Mason seemed to concentrate more on television movies, such as Love Canal (1982) and Surviving (1985), and her feature-film appearances became sporadic. In 1991, she starred in the short-lived sitcom Sibs. In 1997, Mason became a semi-regular on the popular NBC sitcom Frasier, playing the love interest of Kelsey Grammar's father, John Mahoney. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Produced for cable's Hallmark channel, The Long Shot stars Julie Benz as expert equestrienne Annie Garrett. Forced by her demanding mother, Bonnie (Laura Johnson), to live under the shadow of her sister, Katie, who won 37 blue ribbons for her horsemanship before her death in a freak accident, Annie is further burdened when her no-good husband, Ross (John Livingston), deserts her. With her seven-year-old daughter, Taylor (Gage Golightly), in tow, the cash-strapped Annie accepts a very difficult job as a groomer and trainer on the Colorado horse farm owned by the no-nonsense Mary Lou O'Brien (Marsha Mason). Despite her heavy workload, Annie thrives in her new environment, forming a strong "friendship" with a horse named Tolo, whom she hopes to ride to victory in a high-stakes contest. Alas, Annie's opportunity to finally live up to the accomplishments of her late sister Katie may be permanently scuttled when Tolo is suddenly struck blind. The Long Shot was first broadcast on April 18, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Benz, Marsha Mason, (more)
A woman has a hard time embracing reality after a personal tragedy in this made-for-cable drama. Molly (Vinessa Shaw) is a young widow having a hard time putting her life back together after her husband's death. Molly obsesses over the leftover artifacts of his life, and she believes that his spirit walks the house they used to share, though her attempts to photograph the ghost are a failure. Molly supports herself by working at a photo shop, where the manager (Amy Van Nostrand) is convinced Molly needs to remarry, and isn't shy about dropping hints. But Molly seems to have built an emotional wall around herself until she meets an uncouth neighbor (Tim Blake Nelson) who lives in the neighborhood with his uncle. While she doesn't think much of him at first, Molly in time makes friends with the man, and under his spell, she develops a daring and impulsive streak. Bereft was directed by Tim Daly, who also appears in a supporting role; the cast also includes Edward Herrmann and Marsha Mason. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vinessa Shaw, Tim Blake Nelson, (more)
The very British sensibilities of Jane Austen are introduced to the exotic flavors of the Bollywood musical in this romantic comedy with songs from the director of Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha. Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai) is the lovely and eligible daughter of her socially ambitious mother and father (Nadira Babbar and Anupam Kher). Mother and father want to be sure that Lalita, the most beautiful of their four daughters, settles down with a man worthy of her, but she has proven resistant to matchmaking, announcing that she will choose her own husband, and will choose him for love. While mother is keen on the profoundly annoying Kholi (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), Lalita has had her head turned by a handsome vagabond from England, Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gilles). But while attending the wedding of a friend, Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a college buddy of family friend Raj (Naveen Andrews) who is the son of a wealthy hotel magnate. Lalita finds that Will makes a strong impression on her -- she can't stand him, but she also can't get him out of her mind. Will feels the same way about her, and as they inadvertently chase one another over three continents, will morbid fascination grow into true love? Bride and Prejudice marked the first English-speaking role for Aishwarya Rai, who had firmly established herself as India's leading female star when this film was made. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, (more)
- 2001
- Add Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows to Queue Add Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows to top of Queue
From her gradual ascent to stardom in the 1930s to her death from a drug overdose at age 47 in 1969, former vaudeville baby Frances Ethel Gumm, aka Judy Garland, endured a string of personal and career ups and downs that continues to color her reputation as an icon whose tragedies outweighed her triumphs. This TV biopic, based on the first half of daughter Lorna Luft's book Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir, attempts to humanize Garland's legend by presenting the singer/actress' story from an insider's point of view. Tammy Blanchard plays the young Garland, an MGM contract player with an overbearing mom (played by Marsha Mason) who helped push her daughter to stardom -- and, along with studio boss Louis B. Mayer (Al Waxman), into a lifelong addiction to booze and barbiturates. From her early performances alongside Mickey Rooney to her breakthrough role in The Wizard of Oz, Life With Judy Garland paints the performer as a sweet kid who just wanted to please her mother, especially after the death of her gentle, beloved father (Aidan Devine). Australian actress Judy Davis takes over as the grown-up Garland as the film traces her five marriages, exile from MGM, countless film and stage comebacks, and crippling addictions. The film's final section concentrates on the home life of Luft, her brother Joey, and their half sister Liza Minnelli, as the kids and their broke mom moved from one hotel to another and Luft nursed Garland through depressions and binges. Life With Judy Garland premiered in February of 2001 on ABC, earning Emmy awards for both Davis and Blanchard. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Victor Garber, (more)
The ghosts of two daring pilots help a troubled young girl in this fantasy for the family. In 1927, a pair of French air aces, Charles Nungesser (Lothaire Bluteau) and Francois Coli (Michel Monty) hop into a single-engine biplane and take off for New York City with the intention of becoming the first pilots to cross the Atlantic non-stop. However, they fail to arrive in New York and are never heard from again. 70 years later, 12-year-old Katie Penhallow (Juliana Wimbles) and her brother are sent to Newfoundland to visit their grandmother, Lydia (Marsha Mason). Both Katie and her brother have had a difficult time dealing with the death of their father, a pilot who lost his life while testing a plane several years before. One night, while exploring at a pond near Grandmother's house, Katie encounters Nungesser and Coli, who look remarkably alive and healthy for two men who have been dead for seven decades. The flyboys tell Katie they are actually the spirits of the lost aviators, and they will not be able to rest until they can rescue their wrecked aircraft from the pond. While Katie has a hard time convincing anyone of what she saw, for the first time since her father's death she has a focus and purpose in life that takes her mind off her feelings about her dad. Shown on premium cable in the United States under the title Restless Spirits, Dead Aviators was shown under its original title in 1999 at Sprockets, the Toronto Film Festival for Children, and on CBC television in Canada. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lothaire Bluteau, Michael Monty, (more)
- 1999
This film profiles Marsha Mason, who found success early in her career, and married a fellow actor. However, the relationship didn't last. She moved from role to role, appeared in Blume in Love, and beat out top actresses for the coveted leading role of Cinderella Liberty. She found love again with Neil Simon, and starred in his Goodbye Girl, one of her most famous performances. After that marriage broke up, she suffered a midlife crisis, and began looking for an outlet from Hollywood. The world of stock car racing beckoned, and she immersed herself in this new field. She has triumphed, winning many racing awards. ~ Alice Day, Rovi
- 1999
Tony Award winner and four-time Academy Award nominee Jane Alexander is profiled in this biography from Lifetime. After a privileged upbringing in Massachusetts, the budding actress briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College until her sophomore roommate's life was cut tragically short. Alexander sought refuge in the theater program at the University of Edinburgh, and upon returning to New York she began to slowly build a successful career out of playing strong women in risky, politically serious films and plays. From marriages both unsuccessful and successful to her 1993 appointment as chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Intimate Portrait uncovers the real stories behind a very public life. Narrated by Marsha Mason, the program features interviews with James Earl Jones, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Wendy Wasserstein, Alexander's husband Ed Sherin and son Jace Alexander, and Tina Howe. ~ Sarah Welsh, Rovi
- 1998
After months of dating the acerbic and outspoken Sherry Dempsey (Marsha Mason), Martin (John Mahoney) decides it is time to pop the question. This does not rest well with Martin's sons, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce), who have never warmed up to Sherry -- and are even less enamored of her once they learn some shocking facts about her past. Without giving away the ending of this episode, suffice to say that the cast of Frasier will soon be "lighter" by one. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1997
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Martin (John Mahoney) and Sherry (Marsha Mason) have broken up over a silly quarrel. While Martin's son, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer), is rather relieved to see the back of the bombastic Sherry, he soon realizes that his father is miserable without her. Thus it is that Frasier takes on the responsibility to patch up the quarrel using every professional skill (and subterfuge) at his disposal. Parts one and two of "Three Dates and a Breakup" originally aired as a single hour-long episode. ~ Rovi
- 1997
Originally telecast as a one-hour episode, "Three Dates and a Breakup" has been split into two half-hour for syndication. In part one, Frasier's plans for a romantic weekend -- with no fewer than three lady friends -- are scuttled by his father Martin's girlfriend, Sherry (Marsha Mason). One thing leads to another, and before long Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) discovers that Sherry and Martin (John Mahoney) have broken up. Normally, this would be a great cause for celebration on Frasier's part, but... ~ Rovi
- 1997
Although Martin (John Mahoney) has patched up his quarrel with his lady friend Sherry (Marsha Mason), Martin's live-in caregiver Daphne (Jane Leeves) is not so politely inclined towards the older woman. Fed up with Sherry's meddling in her private life, Daphne walks out on Martin -- and temporarily moves in with Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Will Niles finally be able to consummate the Love That Dares Not Speak Its Name with the delectable Daphne, or will he come down with another case of cold feet? ~ Rovi
- 1997
Marsha Mason makes her first series appearance as brassy barmaid Sherry Dempsey. Upon meeting Sherry, widower Martin Crane (John Mahoney) instantly falls in love with her. Well and good -- except that the outspoken, banjo-playing Sherry does not pass muster with Martin's prissy, classical music-loving offspring, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Future Malcolm in the Middle star Jane Kaczmarek also appears in this episode. ~ Rovi
- 1997
Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) decides that the time has come to replace the worn-out knocker on his apartment door with a brand new one of elaborate design. In doing so, however, Frasier runs afoul of the condo's board of directors, who tyrannically refuse to grant permission for this improvement. Outraged, Frasier vows to change the condo's draconian rules by running for board president. The question: Is "regime change" always a good thing? ~ Rovi
- 1997
The 65th birthday of Martin Crane (John Mahoney) is rapidly approaching. This event also heralds a yearly ritual performed by Martin's sons, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce), to wit: virtually trampling over each another in their efforts to buy ever-increasingly expensive gifts for their dad. Without giving away any more of the plot, it can be said that the episode's biggest laugh is a horse laugh. Marsha Mason makes her first fifth-season appearance as Martin's lady friend Sherry Dempsey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A variety of crooks, losers, and working stiffs living in the shadow of Hollywood find their various personal crises overlapping in this intricately woven melodrama. Lee Woods (James Spader) is a cold-blooded hit man and Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello) a soft-at-heart gangster; they've been sent to murder Roy Foxx (Peter Horton), the former husband of also-ran Olympic skier Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher). Lee's girlfriend Helga (Charlize Theron) is unhappy about his habit of killing people, and she attracts the attention of Alvin (Jeff Daniels) and Wes (Eric Stoltz), two cops who've been put on vice detail but don't have the heart to bust the prostitute they've been trailing. Alvin dreams of becoming a homicide detective, so when he discovers that he might be on the trail of a murder, it's like Santa Claus showed up in mid-July to hand him a present. Dosmo manages to escape the crime scene, only to foil a murder attempt by Lee, forcing him to hide out in the home of Hopper, a pretentious English art dealer (Greg Cruttwell), whom Dosmo holds hostage along with Hopper's long-suffering assistant, Susan (Glenne Headly). In the midst of all this, a down-on-his-luck television director (Paul Mazursky) contemplates suicide (the main stumbling block is finding someone to take care of his dog) while also being pestered by an actor with equally bad luck (Austin Pendleton) and meeting a compassionate nurse (Marsha Mason) on a visit to a cemetery. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Greg Cruttwell, (more)
- 1995
Tom Selleck stars in this made-for-television movie about a judicial sting operation. Selleck stars as Judge Timothy Nash, a respected judge who's approached by special agents to take part in an undercover sting to expose a fellow judge's corrupt activities. At first Judge Nash is willing, but as the investigation grows, he gets cold feet and wants out -- only to find that it's too late to back out. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
A stranger pulled into a deadly scheme races against time to save his daughter in this thriller. Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) is an accountant who comes to L.A. with his ten-year-old daughter Lynn (Courtney Chase) to attend a funeral. On the street, Gene and Lynn are pulled aside by Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) and Ms. Jones (Roma Maffia), who flash what look like police badges and usher them into a van. Gene soon discovers that he's been kidnapped, and his captors have an unusual demand -- if Gene does not murder Gov. Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason) within 75 minutes, his daughter will be killed. Gene now has just an hour and a quarter to tip off the authorities, spare Gov. Grant, and find out what Smith and Jones are trying to do, along with saving his daughter's life. He finds a much-needed ally in one-legged shoe-shine man Huey (Charles S. Dutton). Most of the action in Nick of Time occurs in "real time," meaning that the passage of time on screen matches that of real life, as the frequent shots of clocks and watches will attest. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken, (more)
In the style of the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, I Love Trouble depicts the developing romance of two rival reporters who reluctantly fall for each other while competing for a major scoop. Old hand Peter Brackett (Nick Nolte) and aspiring newcomer Sabrina Peterson (Julia Roberts) first meet when they are both assigned to cover a mysterious train crash. The pair immediately develops a connection despite their professional rivalry, and they decide to work together. Sensing something fishy about the crash, they look deeper and are soon fighting to expose a wide-ranging conspiracy, while also struggling to outmaneuver and out-charm each other along the way. Co-creators Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, who previously found success harking back to 1940s comedy in Father of the Bride, borrow heavily from His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and other screwball classics. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julia Roberts, Nick Nolte, (more)
Phoebe Cates stars in this bizarre comedy that wants to be the kind of stylish comic fable the likes of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and Pee-wee's Big Adventure but ends up looking like a shabby burlesque about schizophrenia. Cates is Elizabeth, who has recently separated from her philandering husband Charles (Tim Matheson) and moved back home with her harridan mother Polly (Marsha Mason). Back in her old little-girl haunts, she regresses into childhood and recalls her imaginary childhood friend Drop Dead Fred (Rik Mayall), a nasty, ill-tempered sociopath. As a child, Elizabeth created mayhem with her imaginary pal, but Polly locked him up tight in a jack-in-the-box. But now, Elizabeth mistakenly liberates him from the jack-in-the-box, and the newly freed Drop Dead Fred proceeds to wreak more havoc than the Id Monster from Forbidden Planet -- taking vengeance upon all the people who have made Elizabeth miserable -- and then some. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Phoebe Cates, Rik Mayall, (more)
Bette Midler stars as Stella Claire, a working-class, fun-loving barmaid in northern New York State. A brief affair with handsome Stephen Dallas (Stephen Collins) produces a daughter, Jenny (Trini Alvarado), whom Stella insists upon raising alone, despite Dallas' marriage offer. As the years pass, Stella and Jenny are a happy pair. Stella gives up bartending to sell cosmetics, supported by her friend Ed (John Goodman), a bartender developing a crush on her and a problem with alcohol. Dallas has stayed involved with his beloved daughter from afar and is now a urologist in New York City, engaged to a book editor (Marsha Mason). As Jenny reaches adulthood, Stella becomes aware that life with her father would provide her daughter with opportunities that she'd never have otherwise, so she devises a painful, self-sacrificing scheme to drive Jenny from the nest. Although functional as a tearjerker, many of the themes in Stella simply don't make as much sense in a modern age of healthy, fractured families, muting the drama of the tale's earlier versions, specifically Stella Dallas (1937). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, John Goodman, (more)
- 1989
Dinner at Eight is a TV remake of the 1933 MGM film of the same name; both films were adapted from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. While the basic plot point of a social-climbing woman (Marsha Mason) throwing a "best people" dinner party has not dated all that much, other elements prevalent in the 1933 version were due for an overhaul 56 years later. The aging, near-impoverished stage actress played con brio by Marie Dressler in the original becomes a jet-setting "literary raconteur" (read: "trash novelist") in the form of Lauren Bacall. And the alcoholic matinee idol portrayed by John Barrymore in 1933 is transformed into a Pacino type (Harry Hamlin) with a drug and attitude problem for the 1989 version. While not exactly improvements, these alterations do not stand out like sore thumbs, as do many past attempts at updating old material. Only Ellen Greene, in Jean Harlow's role as the floozielike wife of a corrupt businessman, falls short of the original. Produced by actress Shelley Duvall, the 1989 Dinner at Eight was first shown on December 11, 1989 over the TNT Cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Albert Finney stars as a TV-news anchorman who wrongly implicates a good friend in a savings-and-loan scandal; when the friend commits suicide, Finney must question his ethics and obsession with high Nielsen ratings. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Marsha Mason, (more)
Having spent much of his directorial career emulating Don Siegel and John Ford, Clint Eastwood borrows a page from the catalogue of Sam Fuller in Heartbreak Ridge. Eastwood casts himself as an old-fashioned Marine Corps sergeant who is out of step with the new-fashioned military. He returns to his old outfit as a gunnery sergeant, where he runs afoul of 1980s-style superior officers to whom the words "Gung Ho" are foolish anachronisms. But through his tough tutelage, Eastwood's lackadaisical platoon is whipped into a first-rate fighting machine, favoring teamwork over such New Age gobbledygook as "self-fulfillment." Eastwood's men prove their mettle during the invasion of Grenada. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, (more)
A young boy retreats into a world of silence in this made-for-television drama. Kiefer Sutherland stars as Kevin Richter, an adolescent boy who has suffered from years of physical abuse. In an attempt to deal emotionally with the effects of the abuse, Kevin refuses to speak and instead lives in a world of silence. When child psychologist Jennifer Hubbell (Marsha Mason) becomes aware of his situation, she refuses to write him off as a hopeless case and works tirelessly to help him emerge from his protective shell. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- 1985
Originally telecast in a three-hour network slot, Surviving is virtually two films in one. In the first 90 minutes, we see the identity crises and outside pressures that propel a "normal" teenaged boy (Zach Galligan) and a "disturbed" teenaged girl (Mollie Ringwald) into committing suicide together. The second portion of Surviving explores the emotional residue left behind by the youngsters' deadly pact. Specifically spotlighted are Zach's parents (Len Cariou and Ellen Burstyn), who feel that Molly goaded their boy into killing himself; and Molly's parents (Paul Sorvino, Marsha Mason) who are consumed with guilt over not catching on to the warning signs of their daughter's despair. Though the acting is overly ripe at times, Surviving never loses dramatic focus throughout its 150 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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