Personal life

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. She raced a Mazda RX-3 in SCCA events.

A resident of New Mexico, she had a farm in Abiquiu that grows 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".

Mason is a staunch Democrat who has donated over $4,000 to Democratic candidates.

Career

Marsha Mason has had a distinguished career in film and theater. Neil Simon cast her in his Broadway play The Good Doctor in 1973. 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 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 King Richard III at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 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.

She appeared in Charles L. Mee’' Wintertime at the Second Stage theatre in New York. In August 2005 Mason starred as Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and on Broadway 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 television 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.

As of 2010 Mason plays Patricia Heaton's mother in ABC comedy series The Middle.

In April 2010, Mason co-starred with Keir Dullea and Matt Servitto in an Off-Broadway production of I Never Sang for My Father. For her performance as Margaret Garrison, Mason received good reviews.

Marsha Mason has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	Hot Rod Hullabaloo	Marcia Hamden
1968	Beyond the Law	Marcia Stillwell
1969	Dark Shadows	Audrey
	Where the Heart Is	Laura Blackburn
1971-1972	Love of Life	Judith Cole
1972	Cyrano de Bergerac	Roxane	TV movie
	Young Dr. Kildare	Nurse Marsha Lord	2 episodes
1973	Blume in Love	Arlene
	Cinderella Liberty	Maggie Paul	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
1977	Audrey Rose	Janice Templeton
	The Goodbye Girl	Paula McFadden	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1978	The Cheap Detective	Georgia Merkle
	The Good Doctor	Various roles	TV movie
1979	Promises in the Dark	Dr. Alexandra Kendall	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
	Chapter Two	Jennie MacLaine	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1981	Only When I Laugh	Georgia Hines	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1982	Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal	Lois Gibbs	TV movie
1983	Max Dugan Returns	Nora McPhee
1985	Surviving: A Family in Crisis	Lois	TV movie
1986	Trapped in Silence	Jennifer Hubbell	TV movie
	Heartbreak Ridge	Aggie
1988	Hothouse	Courtney Woods	Episode "The Actress"
1989	Dinner at Eight	Millicent Jordan	TV movie
1990	The Image	Jean Cromwell	TV movie
	Stella	Janice Morrison
1991	Drop Dead Fred	Polly Cronin
	Sibs	Nora Ruscio	TV movie
1993	One Life to Live	Sabrina	Episode dated 1 December 1993
1994	I Love Trouble	Senator Gayle Robbins
1995	Broken Trust	Ruth	TV movie
	Nick of Time	Governor Eleanor Grant
1996	2 Days in the Valley	Audrey Hopper
1997-1998	Frasier	Sherry Dempsey	6 episodes Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
1999	Dead Aviators	Lydia	TV movie
2001	Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows	Ethel Gumm	TV movie
2002	The Education of Max Bickford	Lilith Bigelow	Episode "The Egg and I"
2004	The Long Shot	Mary Lou O'Brian	TV movie
	Bride & Prejudice	Catherine Darcy
	Bereft	Helen	TV movie
2006	Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King	Aunt Trudy	Episode "The Road Virus Heads North"
2008	Lipstick Jungle	Lorraine Lipman	Episode "Chapter Seven: Carpe Threesome"
	Army Wives	Charlotte Meade	2 episodes
2010-2016	The Middle	Pat Spence	10 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]