Mason Reese is an American former

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

and restaurant entrepreneur who appeared in numerous television commercials in the 1970s, including Underwood Deviled Ham,

Ivory Snow Dreft is a laundry detergent in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other markets. First produced by Procter & Gamble in 1933, it was the first synthetic detergent. The Fairy brand of washing-up liquid and Cascade brand of dishwasher d ...

Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 195 ...

, and

Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

Raisin Bran Raisin bran (sultana bran in some countries; see sultana grape) is a breakfast cereal containing raisins and bran flakes. Raisin bran is manufactured by several companies under a variety of brand names, including the popularly known Kellogg's R ...

Early life and acting career

Reese is the youngest son of William Reese and former actress

Sonia Darrin Sonia Darrin (born Sonia Paskowitz; June 16, 1924 – July 19, 2020) was an American film actress, best known for her role as Agnes Lowzier in ''The Big Sleep'' (1946). Early years Darrin was born to Louis and Rose Paskowitz, the New York-born o ...

. He attended Saint Michael's

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

School, a non-denominational elementary school that was housed in St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, through the fourth grade. In late 1975, he transferred to the

Professional Children's School Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic ed ...

, also in Manhattan. Beginning at age four, Reese appeared in television commercials, and was known for his red hair and the distinctive, high-pitched voice with which he delivered his lines. The most memorable of these was an ad for Underwood Deviled Ham, in which he mispronounced the word "smorgasbord" as "borgasmord." This commercial garnered Reese a Clio Award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Commercial. He appeared in over 75 commercials for numerous products, among which were

' "Munchkins" donut holes, and

. Throughout the 1970s, Reese appeared in features and interviews on New York's

WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

. He was a frequent guest on numerous television talk shows, most notably ''

The Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...

'', for which he also served as a guest host. In 1982, he and his mother voiced a series of syndicated, 90-second radio spots titled ''Mason and Mom'', in which they offered lighthearted advice to children's questions, with Reese sharing a child's perspective, while his mother offered an adult's. At age eight, Reese wrote a memoir, titled, ''The Memoirs of Mason Reese'', joking to a ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' interviewer in 1982, "Oh yes, I think my second volume should be out any day now."

Post-acting career

After retiring from acting Reese became a restaurateur with multiple businesses in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area. He owned Paladar, a now-defunct Pan-Latino restaurant located in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

. He then opened Destination Bar and Grille located on Avenue A in the East Village, which is also now closed. He opened a sports bar called The Luxury Box, which closed in 2015. Reese starred as himself in the 1990 short film ''Whatever Happened to Mason Reese'', the first film directed by

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, ''The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several films ...

. Reese quit the project after one of his co-stars broke his leg during filming. Since looping was required, Reese was voiced in the film by a different actor.

Personal life

As of May 1982, Reese lived in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

. He was still living in New York as of June 2019. In 2019 Reese and adult model Sarah Russi confirmed that they were dating. In July 2022, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' reported that they had broken up after three years together.

References

External links

YouTube channel
* * Jonathan Goldstein
"Why is Mason Reese Crying?"
'' Reply All''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Mason 1965 births Living people American male child actors American people of Russian-Jewish descent American restaurateurs Place of birth missing (living people) Jewish American male actors Male actors from Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors Paskowitz family 21st-century American Jews

Early life and acting career

Post-acting career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links