Xuenou > Editor's Picks > Paul Mason, Producer, Studio Executive and Co-Creator of ‘The Bold Ones: The New Doctors,’ Dies at 92
Paul Mason, Producer, Studio Executive and Co-Creator of ‘The Bold Ones: The New Doctors,’ Dies at 92
Paul Mason, Producer, Studio Executive and Co-Creator of ‘The Bold Ones: The New Doctors,’ Dies at 92,Paul Mason, who penned episodes of Ironside and CHiPs, created The Bold Ones: The New Doctors with Steven Bochco and served as president of Viacom Pictures, has died. He was 92.

Paul Mason, Producer, Studio Executive and Co-Creator of ‘The Bold Ones: The New Doctors,’ Dies at 92

Paul MasonCourtesy Barry Jacobs

Paul Mason, the screenwriter, producer and studio executive who penned episodes of Ben Casey, Ironside and CHiPs, created The Bold Ones: The New Doctors with Steven Bochco and served as president of Viacom Pictures, has died. He was 92.

Mason died Dec. 26 at his home in West Hills, his son Barry Jacobs announced.

At the start of his six-decade career, Mason co-wrote Angel Baby (1961), a drama that starred George Hamilton, Mercedes McCambridge, Joan Blondell and, in his film debut, Burt Reynolds.

Related Stories

Also for the big screen, Mason’s produced Nickel & Dime (1992) and executive produced The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988), Seven Hours to Judgment (1988), I, Madman (1989), Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1991), The Amityville Horror (2005), Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009), A Common Man (2013), The House at the End of the Drive (2014) and Amityville: The Awakening (2017).

He, Bochco and Richard Landau created NBC’s The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, which ran from 1969-73 and starred E.G. Marshall, John Saxon, David Hartman and Robert Walden at various times.

At Viacom, where he was a senior vp at Viacom Productions and president of Viacom Pictures, Mason was the executive in charge of production for series including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Chris Isaak Show, Matlock, Diagnosis: Murder, The Division and Ed.

After producing Get Christie Love! for Wolper Productions, Mason served as an executive for The Komack Co. during the production of series including Chico and the Man and Welcome Back, Kotter.

He also served as president of motion pictures for Trans World Entertainment.

Raised in Chicago, Mason was an all-city basketball player who attended Northwestern University. After Angel Baby, he concentrated on television, where he wrote episodes for such shows as Sam Benedict, Ben Casey, Arrest and Trial, Laredo and Run for Your Life.

Moving to Universal Studios during the height of 1960s TV, he wrote and/or produced for McMillan and Wife, It Takes a Thief, San Francisco International Airport and Ironside, which earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding dramatic series during his tenure.

His other TV producing and writing credits included Tammy, Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, Perry Mason, CHiPs, Manimal, The Fall Guy and Brenda Starr.

Survivors include his wife, Kyong, and sons Barry and Stuart. Donations in his memory can be made to City of Hope.

Mason was the father of Gary Scott Thompson’s brothers-in-law, and the Fast and the Furious screenwriter said he was one of the first producers or execs he met after he moved to Los Angeles. “He treated me to many a steak dinner when I was a struggling writer,” Thompson noted.