Marsha Mason

Marsha Mason starred in the 1978 PBS version of Neil Simon's play "The Good Doctor. " Her leading man got his start on TV playing "Dr. Kildare. " Who is he? Richard Chamberlain.

Marsha Mason starred in the 1978 PBS version of Neil Simon's play "The Good Doctor. " Her leading man got his start on TV playing "Dr. Kildare. " Who is he? Richard Chamberlain.

She sat on the end of the riser, facing 500 people under an immense white garden party tent on the lawn of a fabulous canyon estate. She had a glamorous look about her--she wore a short creamy suit with clunky boots, and her short hair was crimped and oiled and combed straight back off a face that was luminous--angelic even. She had that Beverly Hills aura: gorgeous, privileged, pampered. A stranger, you would guess, to suffering of any magnitude greater than a broken nail.

'Cinderella Liberty' Marsha Mason earned her first best actress Oscar nomination for 1973's "Cinderella Liberty," playing a boozy prostitute with a heart of gold and a mixed-race son; her character is romanced by a shy, kind sailor (James Caan). 'The Goodbye Girl' Four years later, she received her second nomination for the "The Goodbye Girl," written by her then-husband Neil Simon, playing a struggling actress with a daughter. Richard Dreyfuss won best actor for the film as the thespian sharing her apartment.

'Cinderella Liberty' Marsha Mason earned her first best actress Oscar nomination for 1973's "Cinderella Liberty," playing a boozy prostitute with a heart of gold and a mixed-race son; her character is romanced by a shy, kind sailor (James Caan). 'The Goodbye Girl' Four years later, she received her second nomination for the "The Goodbye Girl," written by her then-husband Neil Simon, playing a struggling actress with a daughter. Richard Dreyfuss won best actor for the film as the thespian sharing her apartment.

Marsha Mason admits she foolishly believed being an actress in Hollywood was a lot like being one in England. "In other words, you could do theater and you could do movies. As you aged, there would be parts for you. " But she ruefully realized by the time she was in her 40s that wasn't the case. Mason, now a gregarious 68, was one of the hottest actress of the 1970s and early '80s, earning best actress Oscar nominations for " Cinderella Liberty" (1973), "The Goodbye Girl" (1977), "Chapter Two" (1979)

Marsha Mason has an office in Beverly Hills, a celebrated ex-husband, a new TV movie about to be aired and a lot of problems with the word indefatigable . She sat in her Wilshire Boulevard office the other morning, drinking coffee, looking like the cat that got the cream, clearly delighted to be able to report that, after a couple of rather rotten years, this one seems to be shaping up nicely.

When Ellen Simon's play "Moonlight and Valentino" opened at Duke University in Durham, N.C., over the weekend, there was another Simon in the audience who knows a bit about playwriting, her father Neil. Like many of her father's works, "Moonlight" has some autobiographical roots--humor and tragedy in a woman's life after her husband is killed in a car accident (recalling the death of Ellen's husband in 1987).

Paul Newman. Steve McQueen. Tom Cruise. Marsha Mason? "I love cars," Mason confessed to Parade magazine. "I've been racing about a year-and-a-half and I want to race competitively." When she was growing up in St. Louis, Mason said, "I'd go down to the pit and just watch the guys--I enjoyed the company, besides the normal pubescent kind of attraction." Maybe ex-hubby Neil Simon can write in a role for Mason in some sort of Grand Prix comedy. . . .

A Novel Drama: Put aside your books on tape: Starting today you can listen to a book over the airwaves. KCRW-FM (89.9) teams with L.A. Theatre Works to present a dramatization of Frank Norris' 1899 novel "McTeague." The serial drama about turn-of-the-century San Francisco will air on "Everyday Playhouse" Monday through Thursday from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Starting Saturday, the play can be heard on Saturdays at 10 p.m.

Marsha Mason admits she foolishly believed being an actress in Hollywood was a lot like being one in England. "In other words, you could do theater and you could do movies. As you aged, there would be parts for you. " But she ruefully realized by the time she was in her 40s that wasn't the case. Mason, now a gregarious 68, was one of the hottest actress of the 1970s and early '80s, earning best actress Oscar nominations for " Cinderella Liberty" (1973), "The Goodbye Girl" (1977), "Chapter Two" (1979)

Marsha Mason has been growing herbs on an organic farm in northern New Mexico for a decade, juggling the demands of the land with her big-city commitments on the stage and screen. Now she's trying to sell the 250-acre riverside property. She plans to buy something close to New York, where she opens Thursday off-Broadway in "A Feminine Ending," a new play by Sarah Treem. It's time to downsize and simplify, the 65-year-old actress said.

The taut suspense thriller "Nick of Time" plunges Johnny Depp into a nightmare minutes after arriving at Union Station. On a catwalk overlooking the main waiting room, a man (Christopher Walken) and a woman (Roma Maffia) are scanning the crowds intently, finally zeroing in on Depp's Gene Watson and his little daughter, Lynn (Courtney Chase). Flashing a badge, Walken tells Watson he's under arrest.

She sat on the end of the riser, facing 500 people under an immense white garden party tent on the lawn of a fabulous canyon estate. She had a glamorous look about her--she wore a short creamy suit with clunky boots, and her short hair was crimped and oiled and combed straight back off a face that was luminous--angelic even. She had that Beverly Hills aura: gorgeous, privileged, pampered. A stranger, you would guess, to suffering of any magnitude greater than a broken nail.

The Unsers, the Andrettis and the other Indy car drivers get most of the headlines at an event such as this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but in the supporting cast are a number of intriguing individuals looking for an opportunity to move up the racing ladder, or at least satisfy their urge to go fast. Don Knowles, a deputy undersecretary of the Department of the Interior from Springfield, Va., will drive a Dodge Daytona in the International Motor Sports Assn. GTU race Saturday.

A Novel Drama: Put aside your books on tape: Starting today you can listen to a book over the airwaves. KCRW-FM (89.9) teams with L.A. Theatre Works to present a dramatization of Frank Norris' 1899 novel "McTeague." The serial drama about turn-of-the-century San Francisco will air on "Everyday Playhouse" Monday through Thursday from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Starting Saturday, the play can be heard on Saturdays at 10 p.m.

Three major events are spread throughout a weekend of screenings, conferences and seminars at the Cineplex Odeon Universal City Cinemas. Tonight, a black-tie gala will honor actress Bette Davis' 100th feature film--Lindsay Anderson's "The Whales of August," which receives its West Coast premiere earlier in the evening--at Universal Studios Sound Stage 28 at approximately 9 p.m. Actress-producer Marsha Mason will host the affair, at which Davis is scheduled to appear.

When Ellen Simon's play "Moonlight and Valentino" opened at Duke University in Durham, N.C., over the weekend, there was another Simon in the audience who knows a bit about playwriting, her father Neil. Like many of her father's works, "Moonlight" has some autobiographical roots--humor and tragedy in a woman's life after her husband is killed in a car accident (recalling the death of Ellen's husband in 1987).