LeROY MASON
July 2nd, 1903 -- October 13th, 1947

Above: Villain supreme LeRoy Mason, despicable heavy of many a cliffhanger outing, in a Republic publicity photo.

Like Roy Barcroft, with whom he frequently worked at Republic Pictures, tall, dark and sinister LeRoy Mason was big and burly enough to play henchmen, but also possessed the required acting talent to portray the suave, crafty boss villain. In fact, with his commanding, once-handsome face, crafty smile, and glib air of put-down and suavity, LeRoy was perhaps the personification of the two-faced head villain, the guy who pretends to be a friend of the good guys while working against them in secret. Mason was a Term Player at Republic, meaning he couldn't work for any other studio while his contract was in effect, and put in the majority of his work there, playing in major and minor roles alike, but giving each role as much flair as lay within his power.

A true Westerner, born in North Dakota, Mason entered films in the 1920s, and, at this point a handsome young fellow, played several juvenile or even leading roles. His oily, sneering voice typed him as a bad guy when sound came in, however, and he made his serial debut as such--Buck, one of the chief villain's henchmen in THE LAST FRONTIER (RKO, 1932). RKO's only serial, FRONTIER was not only Mason's cliffhanger debut, but the serial debut of Lon Chaney Jr. (billed as Creighton Chaney) who played the hero, a newspaperman who donned the guise of the Black Ghost to combat Indians and the villains supplying them with guns. The twenty-nine year old Mason was already a pro at this early point in his career, and managed to completely upstage the ineffectual Richard Neil as head villain Tige Morris. LeRoy would give cliffhanger audiences even greater displays of villainy in the future, however; this was just the beginning.

Above: Lon Chaney Jr. (dressed in black) suspends LeRoy Mason in a rather undignified position in this scene from THE LAST FRONTIER (RKO, 1932), both Chaney and Mason's first serial.

Mason stopped in at Universal for his next serial--a 1933 aviation adventure entitled PHANTOM OF THE AIR. LeRoy played his first head villain role this time; he was Mort Crome, leader of a gang of sky pirates after the Contragrav, a top-secret invention belonging to Tom Edmunds (William Desmond). Mason and his gang (which included a young Walter Brennan) were thwarted by fearless pilot Bob Raymond (Tom Tyler, who Mason had already faced off against in several silent westerns for FBO Pictures).

Above: Mort Crome (LeRoy Mason, left) struggles with Bob Raymond (Tom Tyler) for possession of a gun while the plane they're both in careens out of control in this exciting scene from PHANTOM OF THE AIR (Universal, 1933).

Mason took a five-year hiatus from cliffhangers after PHANTOM, appearing in films ranging from DUDE RANGER with George O'Brien to KING KONG. During this period he also made his first Republic film, a wonderful Gene Autry western called COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, in which he played (naturally) the boss heavy. His next serial was also his first for Republic, THE PAINTED STALLION (1937), a "Covered Wagon" epic that included such historic heroes as Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and Jim Bowie, as well as a fictional leading hero, Clark Stuart (played by Ray Corrigan). Stuart, a government envoy assisting Walter Jamison (Hoot Gibson) and his wagon train in their westward trek, runs up against Alfredo Dupray (Mason), the former Mexican governor of the California area who plans to create his own empire and wants to keep out the Americans at all cost. LeRoy, admittedly somewhat miscast as a Latin character, still delivered his unparalleled villainy with his usual verve and style, making Dupray an arrogant, completely selfish dictator. A particularly good example of this came in one scene, when his lieutenant (Duncan Renaldo in a rare villain role) advises that rushing the good guy's fortifications will lose a lot of men, and Mason replies "So what? I have plenty of men." Mean and callous, but completely what we expect from LeRoy.

Above: Ray Corrigan (second from left) and an unidentified player (far left) have been captured by the bad guys in THE PAINTED STALLION (Republic, 1937). The villains are, from left to right, Maston Williams, three unidentified players, LeRoy Mason (wearing the fancy uniform), and, standing next to Mason, Duncan Renaldo. Two other unidentified players are partially hidden by LeRoy and Renaldo.

Apparently Mason didn't sign his contract with Republic following STALLION, as the same year he appeared in Columbia Pictures' first serial, JUNGLE MENACE. Mason was again a henchman, but a nominal one--Murphy, a bloodthirsty river pirate who the head villains (Richard Tucker and Duncan Renaldo) had a hard time keeping in check (in fact, Mason's character wound up killing Renaldo's). World-famous animal trapper, Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck was the star of JUNGLE MENACE, and the serial dealt with his attempts to keep Mason and Co. from taking over a rubber plantation owned by William Bakewell and his father. Another well-known animal man, big cat hunter Sasha Siemel, also appeared in JUNGLE MENACE, and John Davidson, Reginald Denny, and scripter George Rosener played supporting roles as well. Mason's final non-Republic cliffhanger was also a Columbia, 1939's OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON. LeRoy played John Baxter, a fur trapper who was a suspect for Pegleg, the serial's mystery villain. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) For once, LeRoy was a good guy; hero Bill Elliott unmasked another actor as Pegleg, completely vindicating Mason.

Above: LeRoy Mason (left) engages in an atypically violent brawl with Reginald Denny in JUNGLE MENACE (Columbia, 1937).

Mason still continued to freelance, appearing in Tim Holt westerns at RKO as well as many Gene Autry and Three Mesquiteers westerns at Republic. He signed his term player contract with Republic in 1943, and from then on appeared exclusively in Republic films (it was also somewhere at this point that LeRoy lost the sight of one his eyes due to a gunshot mishap; despite this severe accident he continued to act). His first serial under his new contract was CAPTAIN AMERICA (Republic, 1944), in which he played the small role of Bates, a chemist who helped chief villain Lionel Atwill develop a deadly poison called the Purple Death and was plugged by hero Dick Purcell in the first chapter. Republic gave him a much meatier part the same year, however, in the jungle adventure cliffhanger THE TIGER WOMAN. Linda Stirling, in her first cliffhanger, played the title role, a white jungle goddess who attempted to protect her people from oil profiteers headed by Morgan (George J. Lewis) and secretly backed by lawyer Fletcher Walton (LeRoy) and his partner Dagget (Crane Whitley). Mason was also after a mysterious urn that contained the secret of Linda's true origin. Suspecting that the Tiger Woman was in reality missing heiress Rita Arnold, who had been lost in the jungle years ago, Fletcher planned to kill the girl once he established her identity and hire an impostor to take possession of the Arnold fortune. Needless to say, hero Allen Saunders (Allan Lane) wrecked both of Mason's plots and sent poor LeRoy hurtling to a fiery death in the volcanic pits beneath the Tiger Woman's temple. Incidentally, this serial also marked Mason's final pairing with Duncan Renaldo, however, Renaldo was Lane's good guy sidekick this time, and not one of LeRoy's villain team.

Above: LeRoy Mason (left) has the drop on Dick Purcell in CAPTAIN AMERICA (Republic, 1943).

Above: LeRoy Mason attempts to spear Allan Lane in the climactic fight at the end of THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944). This card is from the reissue version, PERILS OF THE DARKEST JUNGLE.

Mason's next serial gave him high billing but a small part--as Morton, one of Jim Belmont's (George J. Lewis) accomplices in FEDERAL OPERATOR 99. Mason only appeared in two or three scenes and never left Lewis's headquarters in the whole serial. He still made the most of this part, scoring particularly well in a scene where Lewis has him give hero Marten Lamont some false information over the phone that will lead him into a trap. Again, though, Mason was rewarded for his small role by getting to play a large one the same year--the part of the chief villain in the Western serial THE PHANTOM RIDER. As an unnamed outlaw leader posing as Indian Agent Fred Carson, Mason was given a great opportunity to do what he did best--pretend to be on the good guys' side while trying his best to kill them at every opportunity. LeRoy's outlaw gang were using the Indian reservation as a hideout, since the local law couldn't enter Indian territory. This cushy setup was threatened with extinction when the Indian chief's college-educated son (George J. Lewis) attempted to organize an Indian police force to deal with the scoundrels hiding out on the Indian land. Mason did his best to keep Lewis from getting the police bill passed, but when the Phantom Rider, legendary guardian of the Indians, entered the picture, LeRoy and his henchmen found themselves fighting a losing battle. Dr. Jim Sterling (Robert Kent) was actually the Rider, but Mason and his men never found out, and their masked foe brought them to their defeat.

Above: "Fred Carson", the phony Indian Agent (LeRoy Mason. left) plots with his henchman Ben Brady (Kenne Duncan) in THE PHANTOM RIDER (Republic, 1945).

In 1946, Mason once again followed the pattern of a small serial role followed by a chief villain serial role. The small role was in KING OF THE FOREST RANGERS, an atmospheric woods adventure that dealt with the adventures of ranger Steve King (Larry Thompson) and his battle against a gang of criminals who were trying to force local farmers to sell their land with a mysterious purpose in view. Mason played Halliday, a crooked card sharp who attempts to trim farmer Ernie Adams in a rigged poker game and is exposed and beaten up by Thompson. Unfortunately, the serial's head villain, Stuart Hamblen, proved to be an lousy actor; he and Mason should have traded places, as Hamblen's role was tailor-made for LeRoy's slick, insincere persona. Mason's other 1946 serial (and his last major cliffhanger role, as it turned out) was once again as a double-dealing boss villain in DAUGHTER OF DON Q. Teamed with fellow bad guy Roy Barcroft (the two had made many B-westerns together, but, sadly, this was their only serial pairing), LeRoy played a murderous antique dealer named Carlos Manning, who came into possession of an old Spanish land grant that would give him ownership of some valuable land--provided he got rid of the other heirs named in the grant. He enlisted Barcroft to do in the other claimants, but the twosome struck a snag with one of them, socialite Dolores Quantaro (Lorna Gray), who enlisted the aid of reporter Cliff Roberts (Kirk Alyn) and proceeded to investigate the seemingly unconnected murders. Mason kept the good guys in the dark as to his real intentions until the final chapter, when he was exposed and killed following an antique shop battle with Alyn. All in all, LeRoy was furnished with a pretty good final role to top his long line of slick brains heavies.

Above: A publicity portrait of Mason in his last major serial part--evil Carlos Manning in DAUGHTER OF DON Q (Republic, 1946).

Mason did three more serial chores for Republic, however, all in 1947. First off, in JESSE JAMES RIDES AGAIN, he was surprisingly cast as a cowardly, pompous, oil buyer named Finlay. Then, in THE BLACK WIDOW, he was Doctor Godfrey, a scientific henchman of the title villainess (Carol Forman). Finally, in G-MEN NEVER FORGET, he did a voice-over job, dubbing in the voice of Roy Barcroft for several scenes in the opening chapter (Barcroft's character was supposed to be an escaped racketeer who underwent plastic surgery to look just like the police commissioner. After the surgery, he also began to imitate the commissoner's voice; since the commissoner was also played by Barcroft, Mason dubbed the voice of the "pre-surgery" Barcroft). Sadly, Mason never played another serial role that would have been perfect for him. He was slated to play Amos Ramsey, the brains heavy of ADVENTURES OF FRANK AND JESSE JAMES, when he died of a heart attack on the set of a Monte Hale Western, CALIFORNIA FIREBRAND, at the young age of 45.

With Roy Barcroft, Kenne Duncan, and a few others, LeRoy Mason was the backbone of Republic Pictures; the serial studio as we know it wouldn't have been the same without him. If he hadn't met such a tragic and premature demise, I'm sure LeRoy would have continued to brighten the studio's serials and B-westerns right to the end of the cliffhanger era with his incomparably two-faced villain portrayals. While no character in his serials had ever been sad when LeRoy met his on-screen end, there are many, many serial fans who will always regret the passing of this great serial bad guy.

Above: Gene Autry (left) asks Mason some questions in COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, Mason's first Republic film. I can just imagine what LeRoy is saying: "Why, really, Mr. Autry, what reason have you to suspect me of the crimes that have been committed around here lately? Why, I've been doing my best to help you!" Nobody could lie like that but good old sneaky LeRoy Mason.