Tom Mason

For other people called Thomas Mason, see Thomas Mason (disambiguation).
Tom Mason

Born Thomas Robert Mason
(1920-04-29)April 29, 1920
Illinois, U.S.
Died December 1, 1980(1980-12-01) (aged 60)
Orange, California, USA
Occupation Chiropractor, actor, film producer

Thomas Robert "Tom" Mason (April 29, 1920 – December 1, 1980) was an American chiropractor, who was best known for appearing in films directed by Ed Wood, the husband of one of his patients.[1]

Biography

Best known as the stand-in for the recently deceased Bela Lugosi in Wood's movie Plan 9 from Outer Space, Mason, who was taller than and bore little physical resemblance to Lugosi, hunched over and held a cape over his face in all of his scenes.[2][3] This act contributed to the trope of Count Dracula (as well as other stock vampire characters) dramatically covering his face with his cape. Mason appeared in and helped to produce several of Wood's other movies, including Night of the Ghouls and Final Curtain, after which his career in showbiz ended. He died in 1980.

Legacy

In 1994, Mason was portrayed in director Tim Burton's film Ed Wood by actor Ned Bellamy.[4]

In 2005, Mason and the Plan 9 cast were lampooned in an episode of the television series Deadly Cinema, and clips of this episode were featured in the documentary Vampira: The Movie.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Peary, Danny (1981). Cult Movies. New York: Delacorte Press. pp. pages 266–270. ISBN 0-440-01626-6.
  2. ↑ Rhodes, Gary Don (1997). Lugosi: His Life In Films, On Stage, and In the Hearts of Horror Lovers. McFarland. p. 145. ISBN 0-7864-0257-1.
  3. ↑ Vinciguerra, Thomas (2006-06-04). "IDEAS & TRENDS; When the Acting Is a Little Stiff, What's a Director to Do?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  4. ↑ "Ned Bellamy Biography ((?)-)". filmreference.com. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  5. ↑ "Cast". vampirathemovie.com. Retrieved 6 July 2015.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.