Editing James Mason (section)

===1958–1970: Established actor===
[[File:North by Northwest movie trailer screenshot (27) James Mason.jpg|thumb|upright|Mason in Hitchcock's ''North by Northwest'' (1959)]]
Mason began appearing regularly on television in shows such as ''Panic!'', ''[[General Electric Theater]]'', ''[[Schlitz Playhouse]]'', ''[[Goodyear Theatre]]'' and ''[[Playhouse 90]]'' (several episodes including ''John Brown's Raid''). He starred in two thrillers for [[Andrew L. Stone]], ''[[Cry Terror!]]'' (1958) and ''[[The Decks Ran Red]]'' (1958) then played a suave master spy hunting down [[Cary Grant]] with romantic assistance from [[Eva Marie Saint]] in ''[[North by Northwest]]'' (1959), directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]].

At Fox he had a huge hit returning to [[Jules Verne]] science fantasy as the determined Scottish scientist and explorer in ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)|Journey to the Centre of the Earth]]'' (1959), taking over a role meant for [[Clifton Webb]]. He did a comedy ''[[A Touch of Larceny]]'' (1960) and was [[Sir Edward Carson]] in ''[[The Trials of Oscar Wilde]]'' (1960). He continued to appear on TV shows like ''[[The DuPont Show with June Allyson]]'', ''Golden Showcase'', ''[[Theatre '62]]'' and ''[[The Alfred Hitchcock Hour]]''.

He did ''[[The Marriage-Go-Round (film)|The Marriage-Go-Round]]'' (1961), then played Dolores' sexually obsessive stepfather Humbert Humbert in [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s version of ''[[Lolita (1962 film)|Lolita]]'' (1962). He starred in ''[[Tiara Tahiti]]'' (1962), then ''[[Hero's Island]]'' (1962), which he also produced. He was in ''[[Torpedo Bay (film)|Torpedo Bay]]'' (1963).

In 1963 Mason settled in Switzerland, and embarked on a transatlantic career.<ref>Kevin Sweeney. ''James Mason: A Bio-Bibliography'', Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999, p.47</ref> He began to drift into support roles, or second leads: the epic ''[[The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)|The Fall of the Roman Empire]]'' (1964); ''[[The Pumpkin Eater]]'' (1964), with [[Anne Bancroft]]; a river pirate who betrays [[Peter O'Toole]]'s character in ''[[Lord Jim (1965 film)|Lord Jim]]'' (1965); a Chinese noble in ''[[Genghis Khan (1965 film)|Genghis Khan]]'' (1965); ''[[The Uninhibited]]'' (1965); a guest role on ''[[Dr. Kildare (TV series)|Dr Kildare]]''; James Leamington in the [[Swinging London]]-set ''[[Georgy Girl]]'' (1966), a role that earned him a second Academy Award nomination, this one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

In 1967, Mason narrated the documentary ''The London Nobody Knows''. An ardent cinephile on top of his career interests, Mason narrated two British documentary series supervised by [[Kevin Brownlow]]: ''[[Hollywood (1980 TV series)|Hollywood]]'' (1980), on the silent cinema and ''[[Unknown Chaplin]]'' (1983), devoted to out-take material from the films of Sir [[Charlie Chaplin]]. Mason had been a long-time neighbour and friend of the actor and director Charlie Chaplin. In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor [[Sam Neill]].<ref>{{cite news| last=Iley| first=Chrissy| title=Put it away, Sam ...| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jul/24/features.features11| access-date=17 October 2013| newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| location=Manchester| date=23 July 2006}}</ref>

He was in several episodes of ''[[ITV Play of the Week]]'' and he had the lead in ''[[The Deadly Affair]]'' (1967) for Sidney Lumet (playing a character based on [[George Smiley]] though it was renamed); and ''[[Stranger in the House (1967 film)|Stranger in the House]]'' (1968). He provided a supporting role in ''[[Duffy (film)|Duffy]]'' (1968), ''[[The Blue Max|The Blue Max (1966)]]'' and ''[[Mayerling (1968 film)|Mayerling]]'' (1968) but was top billed in ''[[The Sea Gull]]'' (1968) for [[Sidney Lumet]] and starred as Bradley Morahan in ''[[Age of Consent (film)|Age of Consent]]'' (1969) for [[Michael Powell]], a film which Mason also produced. The movie featured [[Helen Mirren]]'s first major film role, and was Powell's last major film. He also had the star role in ''[[Spring and Port Wine (film)|Spring and Port Wine]]'' (1970).