After seeing her 1973 film debut in
Blume in Love,
Neil Simon cast Mason in his Broadway play
The Good Doctor. Shortly afterwards, Mason and Simon, a widower, fell in love and got married. That same year, Mason co-starred opposite
James Caan in the 20th Century Fox film
Cinderella Liberty, which netted her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In 1977, Mason's performance in Simon's smash hit film,
The Goodbye Girl, won her a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination. In 1979, Simon successfully cast Mason as Jennie MacLaine in the screen adaptation of his hit play
Chapter Two, which was based on Mason's relationship with Simon up to their marriage. The film proved to be another big hit, garnering her a third Oscar nomination for Best Actress. '' (1980) In 1981, Mason starred along with
Kristy McNichol,
James Coco, and
Joan Hackett in
Only When I Laugh, Simon's film adaptation of his Broadway comedy-drama
The Gingerbread Lady; it was another box-office success. For her performance as Georgia Hines, Mason was highly praised and earned a fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination. Mason's
Max Dugan Returns (1983), also written by Simon, grossed a modest $17.6 million at the box office. Despite a stellar cast led by Mason,
Donald Sutherland,
Jason Robards and
Matthew Broderick, the film was a slow starter, becoming more popular after premiering on cable TV and
VHS. By this time, Mason and Simon had divorced, and her film career lost momentum. She co-starred with
Clint Eastwood in the 1986 film
Heartbreak Ridge, which was fairly well received and a commercial success. Mason also played a supporting role in the 1990 motion picture
Stella starring
Bette Midler, a remake of the 1937 film
Stella Dallas. Mason played in a New York production of
Harold Pinter's
Old Times. She next directed the play ''Juno's Swans'' (1986), by E. Katherine Kerr, at the Second Stage Theatre in Los Angeles. Her stage credits include
Norman Mailer's
The Deer Park, Israel Horovitz's
The Indian Wants the Bronx, Neil Simon's
The Good Doctor and
Joseph Papp's 1974
Richard III at the
Lincoln Center. Mason starred on
Broadway in a revival of
Night of the Iguana in 1996, and the following year in
Michael Cristofer's
Amazing Grace. Mason reunited with
Goodbye Girl co-star
Richard Dreyfuss and writer Neil Simon in Duncan Weldon and
Emanuel Azenberg's production of
The Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1999, which was performed at the L.A. Theatre Works shortly after a revival in London's West End. She earned a Grammy nomination in comedy. She appeared in
Charles L. Mee's
Wintertime at the Second Stage theatre in New York. In August 2005 Mason starred as
Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and on Broadway in
Steel Magnolias, with
Delta Burke,
Frances Sternhagen,
Rebecca Gayheart,
Lily Rabe and
Christine Ebersole. She appeared in
A Feminine Ending at
Playwrights Horizons, and in the Shakespeare Theater Company's performance of ''
All's Well That Ends Well'' in
Washington, D.C. Recently, she starred in
Lillian Hellman's
Watch on the Rhine at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and off-Broadway in the Irish Repertory Theatre's production of "Little Gem" which earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Play. Mason's television work includes guest roles on
Seinfeld,
Lipstick Jungle, and
Army Wives. Mason starred in her own series,
Sibs, which ran from 1991 to 1992. In 1997 and 1998, she had a recurring role on the TV show
Frasier as Sherry Dempsey, Martin Crane's flamboyant girlfriend. She received a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. In February 2010, she co-starred in
California Suite at the
Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Mason played
Patricia Heaton's mother in the ABC comedy series
The Middle from 2010 to its conclusion in 2018. Other recent TV roles have included "Grace & Frankie", "Madam Secretary" and "The Good Wife". In April 2010, Mason co-starred with
Keir Dullea and
Matt Servitto in an
Off-Broadway production of
I Never Sang for My Father. For her performance as Margaret Garrison, Mason received good reviews. During the Pandemic, she appeared in zoom productions of
Dear Liar with
Brian Cox for Bucks County Playhouse and opposite Richard Dreyfus in "The Letters of Noel Coward" for Bay Street Playhouse in Sag Harbor, NY. As a director, Mason has helmed productions of Neil Simon's
Chapter Two and
Robert Harling's
Steel Magnolias at the Bucks County Playhouse; the first female version of
An Act of God with
Paige Davis at Arizona Theatre Company;
Juno Stories for Second Stage in NYC; the world premiere of
Tennessee Williams'
Talisman Roses with
Amanda Plummer for the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, Mass.; and a benefit production of
The Man Who Came To Dinner starring
Walter Bobbie and
Brooke Shields for Bucks County Playhouse. Marsha was Associate Director with
Jack O'Brien for the Roundabout Theatre's production of
All My Sons on Broadway. In 2022, she starred in and co-directed Neil Simon's
Lost in Yonkers at Hartford Stage. Mason has a star on the
St. Louis Walk of Fame. She has taught at
HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) in New York City. ==Personal life==