Marsha Mason as Interviewed by Justin Bozung

October 24th, 2014

Justin Bozung: You started out as an actress in New York working with Norman on the The Deer Park in 1967 at the Theatre de Lys...

Marsha Mason: That's correct.  The Deer Park was my first New York acting job. 

JB: Going in...Were you familiar with Norman's work?  Had you read any of his book?

MM: You know, I had not ready any of his books by that time.  But I knew who he was.  I knew he was a famous writer, and when I was cast in The Deer Park--it was very exciting to me. I was cast in the play as an understudy for 'Lulu'--the role that his wife Beverly Bentley was cast in.  I was her understudy but I also played the role of 'Bobby' the prostitute.

JB: The play featured Rip Torn, Beverly Bentley, Buzz Farber and Mickey Knox--this was a close-knit group of friends and New York actors...

MM: Right...I didn't know any of them prior to being cast in the show.  Norman called me: "Sexy and wonderfully naive." I didn't know half of what was going on.  I had a scene and I didn't even know what it was about.  Norman had to tell me that the scene was about going down on someone... (Laughing)  I said, "Oh! That's what is it about. Okay..."

JB: Was it easy for you to acclimate into their group?

MM: Oh No.  I was very intimidated by all of them.  But they were all very respectful of me, even though they were somewhat distant from me.  Norman was a huge character to me--and he had a enormous amount of energy.  But he was always very available to me.  Rip Torn was always very intimidating to me.  Mickey Knox was very nice to me though. Originally, Norman's other wife, Adele [Morales], was supposed to star in the play--and then something happened and Beverly Bentley came in to do it instead.  It was fascinating to me to watch everything happen.  I was only twenty-one years old but I felt like a sixteen-year-old.  

JB: Did Norman offer you any direction or discussion regarding the characters that you were working in during the stage production of The Deer Park?

MM: No, he really didn't.  He left all that up to the director Leo Garen.  When he was there in the theatre with us--he was always very jocular and effusive. I remember how he was really into boxing. There was a big to-do about this boxing bell going off for each scene and there was this giant scoreboard with the number of scenes lit up on it that counted down.  Either myself or someone else said, "Boy, this is terrible.  If the audience sees this and realizes that they're going to have to sit through 110 scenes--we're gonna be in trouble."

JB: There's this sort of idea...that anything Norman did provides those that worked with him in that situation resulted in a great amount of tension in the air...

MM: I'd say that's true.  That is very true. Norman's energy--and this is my recollection and my perspective--he was a real presence. He was a  tornado in his style and energy.  He talked with his hands as if he was boxing.  His staccato delivery was very powerful.  He was someone to be recconded with--whereas someone like Mickey Knox was very sanguine.  I'd say that all of us--including Leo Garen as well--were very intimated by Norman. 

JB: After a performance of The Deer Park--many of the actors would head over to Casey's in the Village with Norman...

MM: That's right.  I went over there a few times with everyone. I was seperate though, because at the time, I was married.  My husband at that time was Gary Campbell--and he was in The Deer Park as well.  I remember--we were doing the show one night and I was seated at a table with Rip and the telephone was supposed to ring.  Out of nowhere--Rip back-handed me in the back with his fist.  It took my breath away. When I walked off I said, "What? What? What did I do?"  He said, "You anticipated!" At the same time--my husband was on the stage with is and he was so upset that you could hear him breathing during the scene. I really thought that the show was going to end because I thought that the two of them were going to go at it. That was the kind of tension that you were always dealing with during that show.

JB: How did Norman approach you about Beyond the Law?

MM: He just came up to me one day and said: "MARSH!... C'mon--you're gonna be in this film. You're gonna be fine--you're gonna be great..."  You just sort of went along with him in a daze!  (Laughing) Norman was fascinating and intimidating and scary.   

JB: One of the things that you notice in Beyond the Law is that your name is spelled Marcia Mason instead of the proper Marsha Mason..

MM: That was something that Norman wanted. I never asked him why he did that...I just thought it was a play on words, because he was interested in those kinds of things....

JB: As far as the shooting of the film--it opens in a restaurant, but it's actually a scene that exists near the end of the narrative...What are your memories of shooting there in that restaurant?

MM: You know--I really just took everything that was going on around me in. I was fascinated and intimiated with everyone that was part of the play and that film. I think that comes across in the film today and I think that is what Norman liked about me.

JB: Did Norman give you any sort of character background or direction for those sequences in the film?

MM: What I remember about it now was that he would say things like: "You're gonna do this now, and if I don't like it--I'll let you know."   He was very involved and focused on the scene.  It was really like a whirlwind experience. I really just did whatever he asked of me.  I was really like a sponge to what was going on around me--and it was fascinating because all of the actors in Beyond the Law had such a long history together. 

JB: Of those sequences in the restaurant that you appear in in the film--was Norman one to do multiple takes or was it more of a situation where the camera was on and it was just a constant improvisation?

MM: I remember it strictly--the camera just were rolling.  Maybe we did a few different takes, but it was free-flowing and improvised too.  I would just be naturally reacting in the scene and I wasn't really paying attention to what others were doing. I remember him saying to me, "Now don't worry about this--the camera is going to be on the back of your head." So, he did have a idea of how the scene was going to be structured and how it would play out. I also remember Mickey Knox talking about being a member of the Actors' Studio and him talking about "emotion recall" and "improv"  I absorbed all of that information from him and Norman seemed to be completely aware of those ideas too. 

JB: Where you only in those restaurant and bathroom sequences in Beyond the Law? Or did you witness any of the other scenes being filmed over at Pennebaker's?

MM: I never went over to the Pennebaker studio. Everything at the restaurant--I moved through it all as if it was a party.  Norman set me up with the idea that I knew everyone at the party, who they were and who I was supposed to talk to.  

JB: You almost break the fourth wall in the film--when at the end--Norman sits down next to you and starts going off in that Irish accent... You give us a look that suggests "What on earth is Norman doing now?"

MM: (Laughing) I know! Exactly, that's what I mean. Everyone there was so overwhelming and I think those kinds of responses were want Norman wanted.

JB: To go back to that tension that we discussed eariler---Norman's wife [Beverly Bentley] was there in the play and during the shooting of Beyond the Law but so was his mistress..

MM: The women all adored him! It was so interesting to me how he had Adele-- the woman in the play who he once stabbed acting in it--then have his current wife, Beverly, replace her in the play!  I had to go on for Beverly in the show during the previews for it one night because while on the way to the theatre she got into a mild car accident. I didn't think very much of Leo Garen.  He once grabbed me by my ear and moved me where he had wanted me on the stage. The testosterone was unbearable.

JB: In Beyond the Law, Buzz Farbar asks you character [Marcia Stillwell] if she knows what euphonious means....Did you ever learn what it meant?

MM: (Laughing)  I never did. You know, that came out of real life. I heard Norman say that once and I was so impressed by it that I went up to him to ask him what it meant. He ended up putting it into the movie.