1958–1970: Established actor
Mason began appearing regularly on television in shows such as Panic!, General Electric Theater, Schlitz Playhouse, Goodyear Theatre and Playhouse 90 (several episodes including John Brown's Raid). He starred in two thrillers for Andrew L. Stone, Cry Terror! (1958) and The Decks Ran Red (1958), then played a suave master spy hunting down Cary Grant with romantic assistance from Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
In 1959, he had a huge hit returning to Jules Verne as the determined Scottish scientist and explorer Sir Oliver Lindenbrook in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, taking over the role meant for Clifton Webb. He did a comedy, A Touch of Larceny (1960), and portrayed Sir Edward Carson in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960). He continued to appear on TV shows like The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Golden Showcase, Theatre '62 and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
He played a happily-married college professor asked to father a child by a Swedish visitor in The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) then played Lolita's sexually obsessive stepfather Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962) receiving BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He starred in Tiara Tahiti (1962) and Hero's Island (1962) that he also produced. He starred as an Italian submarine captain in Torpedo Bay (1963).
In 1963, Mason settled in Switzerland and embarked on a transatlantic career. He began to drift into supporting roles: Timonides in the epic The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), a cuckold in The Pumpkin Eater (1964) with Anne Bancroft, a river pirate who betrays Peter O'Toole's character in Lord Jim (1965) a Chinese noble in Genghis Khan (1965) a man in a love triangle in The Uninhibited (1965) a guest role on Dr. Kildare and an older employer pursuing his employee's virginal young daughter in the Swinging London-set Georgy Girl (1966) a role that earned him a second Academy Award nomination (Best Supporting Actor).
In 1967, Mason narrated the documentary The London Nobody Knows. An ardent cinephile on top of his career interests, Mason narrated two British documentary series supervised by Kevin Brownlow: Hollywood (1980) on the silent cinema and Unknown Chaplin (1983) devoted to out-take material from the films of Chaplin. Mason had been a long-time neighbor and friend of the actor and director Charlie Chaplin. In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor Sam Neill.
He was in several episodes of ITV Play of the Week and he had the lead in The Deadly Affair (1967) for Sidney Lumet (playing a character based on George Smiley, though it was renamed) and Stranger in the House (1968). He provided a supporting role in Duffy (1968) The Blue Max (1966) and Mayerling (1968) but was top billed in The Sea Gull (1968) for Sidney Lumet and starred as Bradley Morahan in Age of Consent (1969) for Michael Powell, a film which Mason also produced. The movie featured Helen Mirren's first big film role and was Powell's last significant film. It was also through this film that Mason met his second wife, Clarissa Kaye. Mason also had the star role in Spring and Port Wine (1970).
