Portland Mason

{{Infobox person

| name = Portland Mason

| image = File:James Mason and Family 1957.JPG

| imagesize =

| caption = Mason (3rd from left) with her brother Morgan, mother Pamela and father James, depicted in a scene from 1957's Panic!

| birth_name =

| other_names = Portland Schuyler

| birth_date = {{birth date|1948|11|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California

| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|05|10|1948|11|26|df=y}}

| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actress and writer

| yearsactive = 1954–1968

| spouse = Rob Schuyler
({{abbr|m.|married}} 19??)

| father = James Mason

| mother = Pamela Mason

| relatives = {{plain list|

Morgan Mason (brother)
Isidore Ostrer (grandfather)
Belinda Carlisle (sister-in-law)

}}

Portland Mason ({{IPAc-en|m|eɪ|s|ə|n}}; 26 November 1948 – 10 May 2004) was a British-American child actress and writer.

Early life

Mason was born on 26 November 1948 and was the elder child of English actors James Mason and Pamela Mason. She was named after Portland Hoffa, the wife of James Mason's friend Fred Allen.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/portland-mason-730505.html |title=Portland Mason; Child actress and daughter of James Mason |last=Vosburgh |first=Dick |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |date=2 June 2004 |access-date=30 November 2019}}

She enjoyed a luxurious upbringing in her parents' Hollywood mansion, allowed to wear makeup, stiletto heels and owning her own mink coat and diamonds by the age of nine.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-24-me-mason24-story.html |title=Portland Schuyler, 55; Child Actress, Writer |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=24 May 2004 |access-date=29 January 2018}} Her highly publicized life began with her father becoming violent towards a photographer at the little girl's christening. When she attended high school, Mason was dropped off every morning by a Rolls-Royce and picked up every evening by a white Cadillac.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1463460/Portland-Mason.html |title=Portland Mason |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=3 June 2004 |access-date=29 January 2018 |url-access=subscription}} Her father introduced her to smoking at the age of three in hope it would put her off it in later life. The family sometimes claimed reports of her extravagant childhood were exaggerated,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/arts/portland-mason-schuyler-55-child-actor.html |title=Portland Mason Schuyler, 55, Child Actor |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The New York Times |date=27 May 2004 |access-date=30 November 2019 |url-access=subscription}} and a London reporter who interviewed her in 1966 found her "surprisingly {{sic|hide=y|unspoil|t}}, somewhat shy and unassuming". In 1963 her father moved the family to Switzerland.

Career

Mason began her acting career young, appearing on many television shows and by the age of four had starred in her own short entitled The Child. Mason then went on to play the daughter of Gregory Peck's character in the 1956 film The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. After that, she appeared in many films, shows and television series. As a 13-year-old in 1962, she had a contract dispute with Lyl Productions. She had been cast in the role of "Marnie" for The New Loretta Young Show but was dismissed over leaving the studio lot for lunch and missing the start of rehearsals. The Mason family and Lyl Productions sued each other for breach of contract, with both the trial and subsequent appeal finding in favour of the Mason family.{{cite court |litigants=Mason v. Lyl Productions |vol=69 |reporter=Cal. 2d |opinion=79 |court=Cal. |date=26 July 1968 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2d/69/79.html |access-date=1 December 2019}}

Her most notable role was Georgina in The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery in 1966. Following her final film role in 1968's Sebastian, she took up her mother's profession as a writer. According to her husband, she had been writing a book about her father before her death.

Personal life

In 1971, James Mason married his second wife, Clarissa Kaye. After he died in 1984, Mason and her brother were involved in a protracted legal battle with their stepmother over their father's will and his cremated remains. In 1999, they obtained their father's ashes.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1375863/James-Masons-ashes-finally-laid-to-rest.html | title=James Mason's ashes finally laid to rest |first=Caroline |last=Davies |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=25 November 2000 |access-date=29 January 2018 |url-access=subscription}} Portland Mason had a debilitating stroke shortly after her father's ashes were spread in Vevey, Switzerland in November 2000.