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Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Goodbye Girl (1977), Chapter Two (1979), and Only When I Laugh (1981). The first two films also won her Golden Globe Awards.
She was married for 10 years (1973–1983) to playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon, who was the writer of three of her four Oscar-nominated roles.
Mason’s film debut was in the 1966 film Hot Rod Hullabaloo. Her other films include Blume in Love (1973), The Cheap Detective (1978), Max Dugan Returns (1983) Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Stella (1990) and Drop Dead Fred (1991). On television, she appeared in the soap opera Love of Life (1971–72) and received an Emmy Award nomination for her recurring role on the sitcom Frasier (1997–98).
She has also had an extensive career on stage, making her Broadway debut as a replacement in the comedy Cactus Flower in 1968. She starred in a 1999 revival of The Prisoner of Second Avenue in London, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for the 2000 recording. In 2006, she starred in the American premiere production of Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Her other Broadway credits include The Night of the Iguana (1996), Steel Magnolias (2005), and Impressionism (2009).
Mason guest-starred in Madam Secretary (2015–16) and The Good Wife (2016), and has had recurring roles on the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010-2017 and the Netflix series Grace and Frankie since 2016.
After seeing her 1973 film debut in Blume in Love, Neil Simon cast Mason in his Broadway play The Good Doctor.[1] Shortly afterwards, Mason and Simon, a widower, fell in love and got married. That same year, Mason co-starred opposite James Caan in the 20th Century Fox film Cinderella Liberty, which netted her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In 1977, Mason’s performance in Simon’s smash hit film, The Goodbye Girl, won her a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination. In 1979, Simon successfully cast Mason as Jennie MacLaine in the screen adaptation of his hit play Chapter Two, which was based on Mason’s relationship with Simon up to their marriage. The film proved to be another big hit, garnering her a third Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
In 1981, Mason starred along with Kristy McNichol, James Coco, and Joan Hackett in Only When I Laugh, Simon’s film adaptation of his Broadway comedy-drama The Gingerbread Lady; it was another box-office success. For her performance as Georgia Hines, Mason was highly praised and earned a fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Mason’s Max Dugan Returns (1983), also written by Simon, grossed a modest $17.6 million at the box office. Despite a stellar cast led by Mason, Donald Sutherland, Jason Robards and Matthew Broderick, the film was a slow starter, becoming more popular after premiering on cable TV and VHS. By this time, Mason and Simon had divorced, and her film career lost momentum. She co-starred with Clint Eastwood in the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge, which was fairly well received and a commercial success. Mason also played a supporting role in the 1990 motion picture Stella starring Bette Midler, a remake of the 1937 film Stella Dallas.
Mason played in a New York production of Harold Pinter’s Old Times. She next directed the play Juno’s Swans (1986), by E. Katherine Kerr, at the Second Stage Theatre in Los Angeles.
Her stage credits include Norman Mailer’s The Deer Park, Israel Horovitz’s The Indian Wants the Bronx, Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor and Joseph Papp’s 1974 Richard III at the Lincoln Center.[3] Mason starred on Broadway in a revival of Night of the Iguana in 1996, and the following year in Michael Cristofer’s Amazing Grace. Mason reunited with Goodbye Girl co-star Richard Dreyfuss and writer Neil Simon in Duncan Weldon and Emanuel Azenberg’s production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1999, which was performed at the L.A. Theatre Works shortly after a revival in London’s West End. She earned a Grammy nomination in comedy.[4]
She appeared in Charles L. Mee’s Wintertime at the Second Stage theatre in New York. In August 2005 Mason starred as Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and on Broadway in Steel Magnolias, with Delta Burke, Frances Sternhagen, Rebecca Gayheart, Lily Rabe and Christine Ebersole. She appeared in A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons, and in the Shakespeare Theater Company’s performance of All’s Well That Ends Well in Washington, D.C.
Mason’s recent TV work includes guest roles on Seinfeld, Lipstick Jungle, and Army Wives. Mason starred in her own series, Sibs, which ran from 1991–92. In 1997 and 1998, she had a recurring role on the TV show Frasier as Sherry Dempsey. In February 2010, she co-starred in California Suite at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Mason played Patricia Heaton’s mother in ABC comedy series The Middle, from 2010 to its conclusion in 2018.
In April 2010, Mason co-starred with Keir Dullea and Matt Servitto in an Off-Broadway production of I Never Sang for My Father.
Mason has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
She teaches at HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) in New York City.
Mason was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jacqueline Helena (Rakowski) and James Joseph Mason, a printer.
She and her younger sister, Linda (b. 1943), were raised Catholic and grew up in Crestwood.
Mason is a graduate of Nerinx Hall High School and Webster University, both in Webster Groves. While at Webster, she performed in a variety of theatrical productions.She raced a Mazda RX-3 in SCCA events.
Mason was married to actor Gary Campbell from 1965 until they divorced in 1970. Her second marriage, to playwright Neil Simon, lasted from 1973 until their 1983 divorce.
A long-time resident of New Mexico, she had a farm in Abiquiu that grew certified organic herbs.
In the late 1990s, Mason sold herbs wholesale to companies both locally and regionally before starting a line of wellness and bath and body products called “Resting in the River.”
Based in New York City, in 2018 she completed building a home on a hayfield in Litchfield County, Connecticut, where she resides.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1966 Hot Rod Hullabaloo
1968 Beyond the Law Marcia Stillwell
1973 Blume in Love Arlene
1973 Cinderella Liberty Maggie Paul
1977 Audrey Rose Janice Templeton
1977 The Goodbye Girl Paula McFadden
1978 The Cheap Detective Georgia Merkle
1979 Promises in the Dark Dr. Alexandra Kendall
1979 Chapter Two Jennie MacLaine
1981 Only When I Laugh Georgia Hines
1983 Max Dugan Returns Nora McPhee
1986 Heartbreak Ridge Aggie
1990 Stella Janice Morrison
1991 Drop Dead Fred Polly Cronin
1994 I Love Trouble Sen. Gayle Robbins
1995 Nick of Time Gov. Eleanor Grant
1996 2 Days in the Valley Audrey Hopper
2004 Bride and Prejudice Catherine Darcy
2004 Bereft Helen
2013 Across Grace Alley Grandmother Short
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1969 Dark Shadows Audrey / Vampire Girl “1.915”
1971 Where the Heart Is Laura Blackburn TV series
1971–1972 Love of Life Judith Cole TV series
1972 Young Dr. Kildare Nurse Lord “I’m Handling It”, “The Stranger”
1974 Great Performances Roxane “Cyrano de Bergerac”
1982 Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal Lois Gibbs TV film
1985 Surviving Lois TV film
1986 Trapped in Silence Jennifer Hubbell TV film
1988 Hothouse Courtney Woods “The Actress”
1989 Dinner at Eight Millicent Jordan TV film
1990 The Image Jean Cromwell TV film
1991–1992 Sibs Nora Ruscio Main role
1992 Seinfeld Jennie MacLaine (voice) “The Letter”
1993 One Life to Live Sabrina 1 episode
1995 Broken Trust Ruth TV film
1997–1998 Frasier Sherry Dempsey Recurring role
1999 Restless Spirits Lydia TV film
2001 Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Ethel Gumm TV miniseries
2002 The Education of Max Bickford Lilith Bigelow “The Egg and I”
2004 The Long Shot Mary Lou O’Brian TV film
2006 Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King Aunt Trudy “The Road Virus Heads North”
2008 Lipstick Jungle Lorraine Lipman “Carpe Threesome”
2008 Army Wives Charlotte Meade “Mothers & Wives”, “Great Expectations”
2010–2017 The Middle Pat Spence Recurring guest (11 episodes)
2013 Untitled Bounty Hunter Project Lucille Ryan TV film
2015–2016 Madam Secretary Dr. Kinsey Sherman “The Kill List”, “Connection Lost”
2016 The Good Wife Judge Louisa Page “Tracks”
2016–present Grace and Frankie Arlene Recurring guest (7 episodes)
Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Nominated work Result
1974 Academy Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Cinderella Liberty Nominated
1974 National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Cinderella Liberty Nominated
1974 Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Cinderella Liberty Won
1978 Academy Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role The Goodbye Girl Nominated
1978 Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical The Goodbye Girl Won
1979 British Academy Film Awards Best Actress The Goodbye Girl Nominated
1980 Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Promises in the Dark Nominated
1980 Academy Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Chapter Two Nominated
1980 Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical Chapter Two Nominated
1982 Academy Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Only When I Laugh Nominated
1991 CableACE Award Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries The Image Nominated
1997 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Frasier Nominated
1997 Viewers for Quality Television Q Awards Best Recurring Player Frasier Nominated
2001 Temecula Valley International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award Won
2002 St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award Won
Of Mason’s four Oscar nominations, all in the Best Actress category, only the first (“Cinderella Liberty”) and possibly the fourth (“Only When I Laugh”) were justified.
Mason received her second (“The Goodbye Girl”) and third (“Chapter Two”) nominations for lukewarm performances because by that time she had established herself as an Oscar-caliber performer. Her new status meant that more greater attention was paid to each of her new movies–at least in the short run.
Oscar Alert:
In 1973, Mason lost the Best Actress Oscar to Glenda Jackson in “A Touch of Class.”
In 1981, the winner of the Best Actress Oscar was Katharine Hepburn for “On Golden Pond.”
Her other films include Blume in Love (1973), The Cheap Detective (1978), Max Dugan Returns (1983) Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Stella (1990) and Drop Dead Fred (1991).
TV: Emmy Nomination
On television, she appeared in the soap opera Love of Life (1971–72) and received an Emmy Award nomination for her recurring role on the sitcom Frasier (1997–98).
Broadway
She has also had an extensive career on stage, making her Broadway debut as a replacement in the comedy Cactus Flower in 1968.
She starred in a 1999 revival of The Prisoner of Second Avenue in London. Mason received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for the 2000 recording.
In 2006, she starred in the American premiere production of Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Her other Broadway credits include The Night of the Iguana (1996), Steel Magnolias (2005), and Impressionism (2009).
Mason guest-starred in Madam Secretary (2015–16) and The Good Wife (2016), and has had recurring roles on the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010-2017 and the Netflix series Grace and Frankie since 2016.
