Pamela Mason

Pamela Mason, born Pamela Helen Ostrer on 10 March 1916 in Rochford, Essex, England, emerged from an affluent Jewish family; her father Isidore Ostrer was a prominent banker and president of Gaumont British Picture Corporation. She left school at the tender age of nine and married cinematographer Roy Kellino at eighteen, assuming the professional name Pamela Kellino. Her early career was shaped by Gaumont, where she debuted in the lavish 1934 production Jew Süss and simultaneously explored screenwriting and producing under her father’s studio. In 1935 she met future husband James Mason on the set of Troubled Waters, sparking a partnership that blended romance, collaboration, and occasional scandal, culminating in the celebrated 1938 film I Met a Murderer where the couple played fleeing lovers. After a high‑profile divorce from Kellino, she wed Mason in 1940 and retained the Kellino name for many of her creative endeavors.

The Masons’ relocation to Hollywood in the late 1940s placed them in Buster Keaton’s former Beverly Hills mansion, where Pamela became famed for her glittering parties and her affection for dozens of free‑range cats. Their household produced two children, Portland (named after a family friend) and Morgan, the latter later serving as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan and marrying pop‑icon Belinda Carlisle. Pamela’s multifaceted career spanned stage, film, and television: she co‑wrote and starred in The Upturned Glass and Charade, hosted The Pamela Mason Show and The Weaker(?) Sex, and made guest appearances on series such as Playhouse 90 and Wonder Woman. A prolific author, she penned novels like Del Palma and non‑fiction works including The Cats in Our Lives. Her divorce from James Mason in 1964, settled for over one million dollars, set a precedent for celebrity separations. Pamela Mason died of heart failure on 29 June 1996 in Beverly Hills, leaving a legacy of artistic versatility and entrepreneurial acumen.