Bill Mason (director)
Rowland Hill Berkeley Mason (9 November 1915 – 17 January 2002),[1] better known as Bill Mason, was an English documentary film maker and scriptwriter.
Life
[edit]Mason was born in Kings Norton, Birmingham, England to Elsie Ann (née Berkeley) and Edward Daniel Mason; Elsie's father Rowland Hill Berkeley had been Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 1904-1905.[2]
Mason was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, between 1929 and 1934.[3] After six months as a stockbroker, he went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read English and joined the Cambridge University Film Society.[4][5][6]
In the 1940s, he moved to Hampstead Heath, London,[7] with his wife and son Nick Mason, who became the drummer of Pink Floyd.[1] A filmmaker and amateur racing car driver, because of a lifelong passion for motor sports Bill Mason specialized in observing them as a maker of documentary films.[7] His enthusiasm for the world of motoring was passed on to his son Nick, who wrote about them in his book Into the Red (2004).[8][9] Mason's success was such that Nick was given an Aston Martin sports car as a teenager.[7]
As well as making films,[10] Mason was also a scriptwriter.[1]
Filmography as director
[edit]- Le Mans 1952 (1952)
- Mille miglia (1953)
- History of the Motor Car (1972)
- Racing Mercedes - Part One (2001)
- Racing Mercedes - Part Two (2001)
- Racing Mercedes - Part Three (2001)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Bill Mason Archived 2010-01-21 at the Wayback Machine at bfi.org.uk (accessed 16 October 2007)
- ^ "Bill Mason". The British Entertainment History Project. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
my grandfather was lord mayor of Birmingham
- ^ Old Greshamian Club Address Book 1999 (Cheverton & Son Ltd., Cromer, 1999)
- ^ Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain, James P. Taylor and Patrick Russell, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019
- ^ The Cambridge University Calendar for the year 1950-51, Cambridge University Press, 1950, p. 806.
- ^ "University News", The Times, 19 June 1937, p. 9.
- ^ a b c Pink Floyd Members at angelfire.com (accessed 16 October 2007)
- ^ Into the Red by Nick Mason and Mark Hales (Virgin Books, 2004) ISBN 978-1-85227-225-8
- ^ Review of Into the Red[permanent dead link] at rbooks.co.uk (accessed 16 October 2007)
- ^ "Bill Mason". The British Entertainment History Project . Retrieved 19 April 2022.
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