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Mason Adams

 
Actor: Mason Adams
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Feb 26, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
  • Died: Apr 26, 2005 in Manhattan, New York City, New York
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '70s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: F/X, Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster, Son-In-Law
  • First Major Screen Credit: Lou Grant: Season 01 (1977)

Biography

Mason Adams was once described by a colleague as having a "non-actor's face." This has hardly hampered Adams' professional success, which has hinged almost exclusively on his instantly recognizable voice. After receiving an MA in Theater Arts and Speech from the University of Wisconsin, Adams became a teacher at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. In radio from 1940 onward, Adams gained fame in the title role of the popular soap opera Pepper Young's Family. Typically cast in kindly, folksy roles, Adams enjoyed playing villains and psychos, notably the evil Atomic Man on the radio saga Superman. A prolific commercial spokesman, Adams has for nearly four decades been principal pitchman for the Smuckers condiment company. From 1977 through 1982, Adams played managing editor Charlie Hume on TV's Lou Grant. In films, Mason Adams has occasionally been permitted an opportunity to break free from his paternal TV image, e.g. his corporate bad-guy assignment in 1988's F/X. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Mason Adams
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Mason Adams
Born February 26, 1919(1919-02-26)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died April 26, 2005 (aged 86)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1940–2003
Spouse(s) Margot Fineberg (1957-2005)

Mason Adams (February 26, 1919 – April 26, 2005) was an American character actor and voice-over artist.

Contents

Early life

Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York of Jewish background.[1] He earned an MA degree from the University of Michigan in Theatre Arts and Speech and also attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studying theater arts. He made his stage debut in 1940, appearing in summer stock at Baltimore's Hilltop Theater.[2]

Career

Adams was heard on many radio programs during Radio's Golden Age. A notable recurring role was that of Pepper Young in Pepper Young's Family, which aired from 1947 to 1959. He also portrayed the deadly Nazi Atom Man in a classic 1945 serial on the radio version of The Adventures of Superman.

Adams is perhaps most famous for his role as Managing Editor Charlie Hume in the television series, Lou Grant, which aired from 1977 to 1982. During his run on Lou Grant, Adams performed perhaps his most oft-seen role as United States President in Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981).

During the 1960s he was ubiquitous as a voiceover actor in television commercials for food and other household products, most notably for Chiffon margarine and Crest toothpaste ("Helps stop cavities before they start"). He also did the vocal part of the television commercials for Smucker's preserves ("With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good!"), a role he had resumed in his last years. Beginning in the 1980s, Adams provided the voiceover for Cadbury Creme eggs, which were advertised on television with Adams' catchy slogan, "Nobunny knows Easter better than him [the Cadbury Bunny]." Adams also did radio commercials for the Salvation Army. In addition, Adams was the narrator for Kix commercials in the 1990s as well as a few Dentyne commercials and a few Swanson commercials. He was also the announcer for a 1992 WCBS-TV news promo, as well as a 1986 Lysol commercial. In one of the early episodes of Sesame Street, he voiced a cartoon featuring a "jazzy" triangle, and a "square" square. He voiced those two, as well as being the narrator, with jazz music in the background. This cartoon would be repeated on the show for many years well into the 1980s.

In the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon he played Senator Clinton P. Anderson. During the 1970s, he was a co-star of the NBC soap opera Another World.

Radio career

Mason Adams played many characters in Old-Time Radio programs, amongst them:

Personal life

Adams married Margot Feinberg in 1957. The couple had a daughter, Betsy, and a son, Jim. Mason Adams died on April 26, 2005, from natural causes, according to his daughter.

References

  1. ^ Bloom, Nate (2005-05-20). "Celebrity Jews". The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/25930/format/html/displaystory.html. Retrieved 2006-12-13. 
  2. ^ Mason Adams Biography - Yahoo! Movies

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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