Mason Capwell is a fictional character from the American soap opera Santa Barbara. Excerpt from an interview with Lane Davies about the role of Mason - izaura_111

You can download beautiful collage, which Oksana made for Mason and Mary. Right-click and select "save target as". Here's the preview:

Lane Davis on Mary and Harley Kozak
(Source: lane-davies.com: the official website)

The "electric current" between us was obvious (at least to me) from the very beginning. I knew during the audition that Mary should play Harley. I was very grateful to the producers when they decided to do this too.

Working with Harley was a blessing and a curse - the attraction was so strong that I sometimes found it difficult to deliver my lines.

To this day, when I see Harley Kozak on screen, my heart beats faster - even twenty years later...

I remember wanting more passion, sex, less begging and groveling in the relationship between Mason and Mary.
(…)
The scriptwriters knew that I would be away playing Shakespeare again, so they decided to come up with something tragic to explain my absence. Killing Harley was one of the worst decisions I made during my time on SB... I begged the writers to leave at least a loophole to bring Mary back, but they insisted that it had to happen once and for all. Fans almost burned down the studio...

Harley Kozak says (Soap Opera in Depth magazine, 1987):
My dear fans,
I want to thank each and every one of you for the gift you gave me: you voted for me as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Series.
All the years when I starred in the series "Texas" and "Guiding Light", I thought: I would die for one of these awards!
Looks like it finally worked.
Speaking of death; it is always more difficult for those who survive. Many of you sent cards of condolences, many wrote to the creators of Santa Barbara and demanded a miracle; many of you cried with Mason when the letter "C" crushed Mary.
I took it to heart; Truth.
But life goes on, and as we all know, soap opera characters don't really die. Their souls migrate, appearing in a new guise - on new stages or screens, at a different time (let's hope for "prime time").
So stay in touch.
I spent five wonderful years starring in three wonderful TV series, visiting many exotic places, and doing incredible storylines with the kind of sexy co-stars that any actress can only dream of.
I had a very good time in the series, but you, the fans, were even more generous to me. It's hard to express how touched I was by this award. It was certainly worth not having to quit this job every time I wanted to quit and go home to grow wheat.
With love,
Harley Kozak
Source

DTV: Viewers have a lot of disagreements regarding the stories of Mason-Mary and Mason-Julia. Could you tell me what you think about it, which story did you like better?
LD: It's hard to say. It's very hard to choose between them because I admired Harley Kozak (who plays Mary) and I really enjoyed working with her. For the most part I liked that story. I didn't like that I constantly had to run after her. After a while it started to get on my nerves. You could say I prefer the sparks that flew between Mason and Julia, but they both - beautiful people.

Completely matches my feelings. At first this story seemed promising, then it became annoying. Mary was made too heavy a person. Mason had to run after her all the time, humiliate himself and beg for love and understanding, it is clear that this began to irritate the actor himself. (Before this, he was also chasing Santana.) He says he would prefer "more passion, less begging" in this relationship. The most unfortunate storyline considers the appearance of evangelist Lily Light, Gina’s daughter, - I also think that this is outright stupidity and an unconvincing move by the writers.

It turns out that the image of Mason was inspired by Bridget Dobson’s difficult relationship with her own parents, as it is written on this site, they did not believe in her talent, doubted her, she took it hard, and put her whole soul into her character, which is why the audience loved him.

I was amused by the actor's statement that it is more interesting to play 40 pages of drunken monologues that still need to be learned than musi-pusi performed by Cruise and Eden.

I really liked the actor who played Mason, but what interested me first of all was the character himself: monologues, lines, psychology. If the same actor had played another character, he might not have interested me. For me, this is primarily the luck of the script. Therefore, at that time, I took the information about Lane Davis relatively calmly, did not collect it and did not strive to find out everything about him. For me, his hero was perceived as a character equal in depth to classic heroes literature. But also the actor - interesting person. I like his interviews. Although I prefer the complex, contradictory, broken Mason, and not the prosperous, balanced and devoid of these problems Lane in real life.

But, of course, the other Masons were not perceived by me - these are standard actors, they lack freshness and depth, they played in a clichéd way. No one even thinks of denying the contribution of actor Lane Davis, who has been portraying Shakespearean characters on the theater stage all his life. But I always draw a clear line between an actor and a hero. And rarely do any actors make you want to see them in all other roles.

With the collapse of the USSR, foreign television series began to be increasingly shown on blue screens. At first it was “Slave Isaura” and other television products from various countries South America. However, soon American television series began to be shown to viewers. And the first of them was “Santa Barbara”. Mason Capwell, Cruz Castillo, Julia Wainwright and many others became practically family to TV viewers for many years.

What is Santa Barbara?

"Santa Barbara" is a so-called "daytime" American soap opera. It differs from a traditional television series in the number of episodes. Thus, the standard season of any television series is a maximum of 25 episodes. U soap opera there are many more of them. And Santa Barbara has an average of 250 of them per year.

Although in its homeland this series started in 1984 and ran for nine years, in Russia it appeared only at the beginning of 1992 and ran for ten years. For unknown reasons, it began to be shown at the end of the first season (from the 217th episode).

The main plot of the television series and the main characters

The series tells about the life of the city of Santa Barbara. The main characters are the Capwell family of rich people, who have many skeletons in their closet. All other heroes, regardless social status, one way or another, find themselves connected with the almighty Capwells.

The head of the family is CC Capwell. He is a wealthy tycoon who loves his family and is capable of going to great lengths for her. He was married several times and has many children. At the start of the series, five of them are known: Chaning, Mason, Ted, Eden and Kelly. Later, as the plot develops, their number changes. Despite the many love affairs, the head of the family still returns to his wife named Sofia.

CC Capwell was also married to Gina, the main negative character who dreams of getting rich by any means necessary. In the first few seasons, she was the source of most of the problems not only for the Capwells, but for the entire city. But later other negative characters appeared.

Home love line The television series began the story of Eden Capwell and detective Cruz Castillo almost from the very beginning. They quarreled, made peace, divorced, got married, got lost and found themselves. Ultimately, due to the actress's departure from the project, her character was sent to Europe and disappeared from the television series.

Eden's sister Kelly Capwell, who constantly gets into all sorts of troubles, could be called the record holder for the most love relationship. Unfortunately, in most cases, her passions turned out to be unworthy of the girl’s love.

But the audience especially loved Mason Capwell in the performance of Despite his restless character and a large number of women, he had the most wonderful stories love in a television series.

Who is Mason Capwell? Character biography

Mason is CC Capwell's eldest son. His mother, Pamella Pepperidge, was CC’s first wife, but they didn’t part on the most in the best possible way. Moreover, young Mason was forbidden to communicate with his mother, because of this he developed a rather tense relationship with his father.

Despite problems in the family, the guy graduated from Harvard and became a lawyer. They predicted a career as a politician for him, but he deliberately refused, which greatly angered his father. Quite soon, he established himself as an excellent lawyer and during the series he not only worked in private companies, but also managed to be the district attorney of Santa Barbara.

Over the course of the entire project, this hero managed to endure a lot: he was tortured, kidnapped, he had a split personality and memory loss, moreover, his beloved woman died in his arms. Despite this, he continued to cope with all the problems.

Character character

Unlike the other Capwells, Mason is the most ambiguous. Anything can be expected from him, since he is capable of doing both good and bad deeds. In many ways he is similar to his father, but at the same time more sensual, noble and secretive. Throughout the series he has problems with alcohol. However, later he manages to overcome this addiction.

Also bright features This character is that he is inventive, witty, very smart, unlike many of his relatives. He often quotes classics and makes rather caustic but successful jokes.

Mason novels

Being interesting man, Mason Capwell is successful with women, but he does not always manage to be with his beloved. He was once in love with Santana. But the girl did not return his feelings by choosing his brother. After some time, these feelings pass without a trace.

Starting fleeting affairs, first with his secretary, then with others, Mason unexpectedly begins to like Gina, the mercantile wife of his father. She takes a lot of risks, but cannot resist the charms of the young lawyer. Unaccustomed to serious relationships, Mason Capwell changes when he meets a nun named Mary.

At first the man just likes her, but soon he truly falls in love with her. The girl reciprocates and leaves the monastery for him. But lovers are not destined to be together. First, Mary marries someone else, and then, deciding to return to Mason, she becomes the victim of an accident. This is one of the most tragic moments of the television series.

Hardly experiencing the loss of his beloved, Mason drinks, travels, searches for himself and even becomes a member of a religious community. Time passes, and Mason Capwell becomes himself again.

Mason's Wives

Returning to his normal life, Mason soon receives an offer from his pretty colleague Julia Wainwright to become the father of her child. Despite quite difficult relationship in the past, Mason agrees, and this becomes the beginning of new and wonderful relationship. Dating and spending time with each other, the lawyers fall in love, and soon Julia finds herself pregnant.

However, they are not destined to get married, since trouble hangs over the happiness of Mason’s sister Eden. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Eden's ex-lover Victoria Lane is expecting a child from him. To save the relationship between his sister and her lover, Mason enters into an agreement with Victoria. He marries her and recognizes her child as his, in return she must not reveal the truth about the baby’s real father to anyone.

Having married Victoria, Mason Capwell continues to love Julia. Their relationship becomes strong, despite all the obstacles. Over the course of the entire series, Mason manages to marry her twice.

During the period of Mason's mental problems, he was also married to ex-wife his father - Gina, who thus dreamed of getting to the family money. However, over time, Mason came to his senses and got divorced.

Mason's children

In his marriage to Victoria, Mason soon had a son named Chip (Channing Capwell III). As agreed, the man recognized him as his and for a long time helped raise him.

At the same time, Julia Wainwright finds herself pregnant with Mason's child, but hides it from him for a long time. Already married to Victoria, the man learns the truth, and although he cannot divorce, he still helps Julia take care of their daughter Samantha Eden. Later, having married Julia, he adopts the baby.

After a series of twists and turns, alcoholism, mental problems and marriage to his ex-stepmother Gina, Mason is finally reunited with Julia and together they adopt another child. And later Julia finds herself pregnant again. However, at the end of the series, it is still not known who will be born to them.

It is worth noting that Mason’s beloved Mary was also expecting a child, and, in all likelihood, Mason was the baby’s father. However, the girl tragically died along with her unborn baby.

Lane Davis - actor who played Mason Capwell

Over the course of nine years, this character was played by four actors: Lane Davis, Terry Lester, Gordon Thomson and young Leonardo DiCaprio (Mason Capwell as a child). However, the first performer of this role remained the most popular and beloved by the audience - Lane Davis, who is primarily a theater actor. From childhood he was associated with the theater, as his mother often played in it. You can say that the guy grew up behind the scenes. Having matured, he decided to follow in her footsteps and became an actor.

After receiving his education at the University of Tennessee, Lane began acting in amateur productions and musicals. Thanks to pleasant voice and his bright appearance, he was soon noticed and began to be filmed. So, in 1977 he played a pilot in the episode “ Star Wars", and after that he took part in several more films.

In the early eighties, he was invited to play in the legendary soap opera Days of Our Lives. However, he worked there for only a year, after which he left for new series− “Santa Barbara”, where he was given the role of one of central characters named Mason Capwell. The actor did an excellent job, creating an incredibly complex and multifaceted image on the screen.

While playing in Santa Barbara, Lane continued to act in films and also did not leave the theater. Every year he took two months off and went to play in his favorite productions of Shakespeare's plays. In order to somehow hide the absence of one of the main characters, the scriptwriters were constantly forced to come up with various tricks with kidnappings, imaginary death, and so on.

After working on the Santa Barbara project for five years, Lane got tired of it and left. They didn’t dare remove his character, so they took another actor instead of Davis, but neither he nor the next performer, who was lured from Dynasty, could fully replace Lane. After “Santa Barbara,” the actor filmed and played a lot in the theater. He also married and became the father of two wonderful children. He remembers his role as Mason with reluctance, as he does not consider it a serious achievement. Moreover, in one interview, Davis complained that he had to learn several dozen pages of text for each episode, since his character was very talkative.

DiCaprio as young Mason Capwell

Along with adult actors, Mason was also played by a child. He was the now world famous Leonardo DiCaprio. Having successfully debuted on television quite early, Leonardo showed off and was often invited to various roles. This was facilitated, first of all, by the boy’s angelic appearance.

Already the third big role The actor became the hero of the series “Santa Barbara” - Mason Capwell (as a child). Game young talent viewers had a chance to watch in as many as five episodes of the television series (between episodes 1429 and 1596). It is worth noting that the audience liked young Mason Capwell very much, which could not but have a positive impact on future career Leonardo. So, after filming Santa Barbara, DiCaprio finally made his way into the world of serious cinema.

At first these were small roles. But soon the boy’s talent was appreciated. Before the famous Titanic, Leonardo managed to play several rather serious roles. This is young French writer Arthur Rimbaud and Sharon Stone's cowboy lover movie The Quick And The Dead, and, of course, light-eyed Romeo in the modern production of Romeo + Juliet.

And then Titanic struck, after which Leonardo began to be invited only to lead roles, which brought him all the most prestigious awards in the cinema world. It is interesting that DiCaprio, along with the Oscar, Golden Globe and other awards coveted by any actor, also won the Golden Raspberry for his role in the film Iron Mask.

IN free time this handsome guy actively participates in public life, in particular fights for purity environment, for which he was nominated for a Crystal Award.

Concerning personal life, then, unlike Mason Capwell, Leonardo has never been married, although he had several serious affairs.

The television series “Santa Barbara” has become a cult favorite for CIS television viewers. Moreover, the very name of this show is from own name has become a household word.
However, it is worth noting that, despite a whole galaxy of wonderful actors who starred in this soap opera, the main merit of this is the excellent acting work of Lane Davis, who played Mason Capwell. It was after his departure that the series gradually began to lose popularity and was soon closed. And although the actor himself is skeptical about his character, in the hearts of millions of television viewers Mason Capwell will remain the same as he was played by Lane Davis.