After the Mask-wearing Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) kisses Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz), the jealous boyfriend Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene) comes downstairs with his cronies to confront him. They pull out their guns and manage to shoot Stanley after several failed attempts.
Comically, we hear:
You got me, partner… Hold me closer, Ed, it's getting dark.
The voice he uses to say these lines sounds very familiar.
Which actor/character is he impersonating?
According to Greatest Film Misquotes, the "Hold me closer, Ed. It's getting dark" line is a reference to the 1937 Marx Bros. film A Day at the Races.
According to an old revision of the Wikipedia article there were several other references in that one "dying" scene:
- "Ya got me partner!" - A good impression of Pat Buttram, a voice highly associated with Western films.
- "Tell Auntie Em to let Old Yeller Out" - A reference to Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz and Old Yeller.
- "Tell Tiny Tim I won't be coming home this Christmas" - Tiny Tim is a character in Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol.
- "Tell Scarlett I do give a damn" - A comedic reply to Rhett Butler's line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" in Gone With the Wind.
- At the end of the scene, he is presented with an award for his performance and breaks the fourth wall by thanking the movie audience with Sally Field's acceptance exclamation "You love me! You really love me!". As this is going on, people-shaped silhouettes appear onscreen and applaud while Dorian combs his hair, adding to the illusion of an appreciative film theatre audience.
The quoted portion in the question, "You got me, partner… Hold me closer, Ed, it's getting dark" contains at least three references. Given that this entire scene is a mishmash of as many classic pop culture references as possible (clearly a must if he wants to win an Oscar for his performance at the end) it's not surprising that he manages to squeeze in multiple references like this.
This and the voice being impersonated (both here and in the next two sections) does seem to be an impression of Pat Buttram as noted in the now-removed portion of the Wikipedia article, until he switches to a British accent for the "Tell Tiny Tim…" line. Here's a YouTube video with a number of examples of voices that Pat Buttram did. The line, the costume, and the shootout are clearly a reference to classic Western films but I'm not sure if there's a more specific reference than that.
This is indeed from the 1937 film "A Day at the Races" as pointed out in the other answer. Note, the context is romantic, as opposed to a death scene.
Oh, hold me closer.
Closer. Closer.
If I hold you any closer,
I'll be in back of you.
This is actually a reference to the sitcom television series, Mister Ed.
In the first season episode "Pageant Show" (1961), Mister Ed (a talking horse) is confronted by Wilbur Post (Alan Young) about a phone being put back in the barn. Ed starts pretending to be dying (ostensibly to avoid having to explain how the phone got back there):
WILBUR: Hey, who phoned the company to put this back? Ed?
ED: It's growing dark. Where is everybody? Is that you mother?
The scene can be viewed in this Dailymotion video at the 20:43 mark. Here's the transcript. This is actually a callback to a similar bit earlier in the same episode where Ed is stalling when Wilbur wants to take him out for a parade.
The use of "getting" instead of "growing" could be a misremembering by the writer (or Carrey if it was just improvised), or it's possible that this was a bit that recurred in other episodes of the show and they had different wording. But it's very common for classic quotes to be misremembered; eg Star Wars' "Luke, I am your father" was actually "No, I am your father". It could be an intentional change in keeping with the mischievous Mask character and the overly emotive, chaotic performance he's putting on. The reference also consists of Ed talking to Wilbur, not someone addressing Ed as is implied by the wording.
The implication of "getting dark" on its own is of course not a reference to nighttime but rather the implication is that he's losing consciousness and dying. Though it flows very nicely into the next line about telling "Auntie Em" (Wizard of Oz reference) to let the dog "Old Yeller" out.
