Victor Mature
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film and television actor. In July 1942 Mature attempted to enlist in the U.S. Navy but was rejected for color blindness. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard after taking a different eye test the same day. He was assigned to the USCGC Storis (WMEC-38), which was doing Greenland patrol work. After 14 months aboard the Storis, Mature was promoted to the rate of Chief Boatswain's Mate. In 1944 he did a series of War Bond tours and acted in morale shows. He assisted Coast Guard recruiting efforts by being a featured player in the musical revue "Tars and Spars" which opened in Miami, Florida in April of 1944 and toured the United States for the next year. In May 1945 Mature was reassigned to the Coast Guard manned troop transport USS Admiral H. T. Mayo (AP-125) which was involved in transferring troops to the Pacific Theater. Mature was honorably discharged from the Coast Guard in November 1945 and he resumed his acting career. Film career After the war, Mature was cast by John Ford in My Darling Clementine, playing Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp. For the next decade, Mature settled into playing hard-boiled characters in a range of genres such as Westerns and Biblical films, such as The Robe (with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons) and its popular sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Susan Hayward). Mature also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. DeMille's Bible epic, Samson and Delilah (1949) and as Horemheb in The Egyptian (1954) with Jean Simmons and Gene Tierney. He reportedly stated he was successful in Biblical epics because he could "make with the holy look". He also starred with Esther Williams in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) and, according to her autobiography, had a romantic relationship with her. After five years of retirement, he was lured back into acting by the opportunity to parody himself in After the Fox (1966), co-written by Neil Simon. In a similar vein in 1968 he played a giant, The Big Victor, in Head, a potpourri movie starring The Monkees. The character poked fun at both his screen image and, reportedly, RCA Victor who distributed Colgems Records, the Monkees's label. Mature enjoyed the script while admitting it made no sense to him, stating "All I know is it makes me laugh." Mature was famously self-deprecatory about his acting skills. Once, after being rejected for membership in a country club because he was an actor, he cracked, "I'm not an actor — and I've got sixty-four films to prove it!" He was quoted in 1968 on his acting career: "Actually, I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor. Ask anybody, particularly the critics." Victor Mature died of leukemia in 1999, at his Rancho Santa Fe, California home, at the age of 86. He was buried in the family plot at St. Michael's Cemetery in his hometown of Louisville. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Victor Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Blvd.
Known For
Credits
- 1994 · Sphinx – Secrets of the History as Hanibal
- 1986 · Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend as Self (archive footage)
- 1984 · Samson and Delilah as Manoah
- 1979 · Firepower as Howard Everett
- 1976 · Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood as Nick
- 1975 · Mi Marilyn as Self (archive footage)
- 1972 · Every Little Crook and Nanny as Carmine Ganucci
- 1968 · Head as The Big Victor
- 1966 · After the Fox as Tony Powell
- 1965 · Uncertain Verification as (archive footage)
- 1961 · The Tartars as Oleg
- 1959 · Hannibal as Hannibal
- 1959 · Timbuktu as Mike Conway
- 1959 · The Big Circus as Henry Jasper 'Hank' Whirling
- 1959 · The Bandit Of Zhobe as Kasmin Khan
- 1959 · Escort West as Ben Lassiter
- 1958 · China Doll as Capt. Cliff Brandon
- 1958 · Tank Force! as Sgt. David Thatcher
- 1957 · The Long Haul as Harry Miller
- 1957 · Interpol as Charles Sturgis
- 1956 · Zarak as Zarak Khan
- 1956 · The Sharkfighters as Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves
- 1956 · Safari as Ken Duffield
- 1955 · The Last Frontier as Jed Cooper
- 1955 · Violent Saturday as Shelley Martin
- 1955 · Chief Crazy Horse as Crazy Horse
- 1954 · Betrayed as 'The Scarf'
- 1954 · The Egyptian as Horemheb
- 1954 · Demetrius and the Gladiators as Demetrius
- 1954 · Dangerous Mission as Matt Hallett
- 1953 · The Veils of Bagdad as Antar
- 1953 · The Robe as Demetrius
- 1953 · Affair with a Stranger as Bill Blakeley
- 1953 · The Glory Brigade as Lt. Sam Pryor
- 1952 · Million Dollar Mermaid as James Sullivan
- 1952 · Androcles and the Lion as Captain
- 1952 · Something for the Birds as Steve Bennett
- 1952 · The Las Vegas Story as Lt. Dave Andrews
- 1951 · House of Dreams as Narrator (voice)
- 1950 · Gambling House as Marc Fury
- 1950 · Stella as Jeff DeMarco
- 1950 · Wabash Avenue as Andy Clark
- 1949 · Samson and Delilah as Samson
- 1949 · Easy Living as Pete Wilson
- 1949 · Red, Hot and Blue as Danny James
- 1948 · Cry of the City as Lt. Candella
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (archive footage)
- 1948 · Fury at Furnace Creek as Cash Blackwell / Tex Cameron
- 1947 · Kiss of Death as Nick Bianco
- 1947 · Moss Rose as Michael Drego
- 1946 · My Darling Clementine as Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday
- 1943 · Show-Business at War as Self
- 1942 · Seven Days' Leave as Johnny Grey
- 1942 · Footlight Serenade as Tommy Lundy
- 1942 · My Gal Sal as Paul Dresser
- 1942 · Song of the Islands as Jefferson Harper
- 1941 · The Shanghai Gesture as Doctor Omar
- 1941 · I Wake Up Screaming as Frankie Christopher (Botticelli)
- 1940 · No, No, Nanette as William Trainor
- 1940 · Captain Caution as Daniel 'Dan' Marvin
- 1940 · One Million B.C. as Tumak
- 1939 · The Housekeeper's Daughter as Lefty