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person_profile-Victor Mature

Victor Mature Died at age: 86

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Victor Mature

Date of Birth:

Jan 29, 1913

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Aug 04, 1999

Biography of

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.

Photos of

Victor Mature

Photos ( 5 Photos

Filmography of

Victor Mature

Found 58 Movies in total

... 1999

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1986

Samson and Delilah

Manoah ( Actor )

... 1984

Firepower

Howard Everett ( Actor )

... 1979

... 1976

Every Little Crook and Nanny

Carmine Ganucci ( Actor )

... 1972

Head

The Big Victor ( Actor )

... 1968

After the Fox

Tony Powell ( Actor )

... 1966

The Tartars

Oleg ( Actor )

... 1961

Hannibal

Hannibal ( Actor )

... 1959

Timbuktu

Mike Conway ( Actor )

... 1959

The Big Circus

Henry Jasper 'Hank' Whirling ( Actor )

... 1959

The Bandit Of Zhobe

Kasmin Khan ( Actor )

... 1959

Zwischen Glück und Krone

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1959

Escort West

Ben Lassiter ( Actor )

... 1959

China Doll

Capt. Cliff Brandon ( Actor )

... 1958

Tank Force!

Sgt. David Thatcher ( Actor )

... 1958

The Long Haul

Harry Miller ( Actor )

... 1957

Interpol

Charles Sturgis ( Actor )

... 1957

Zarak

Zarak Khan ( Actor )

... 1956

The Sharkfighters

Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves ( Actor )

... 1956

Safari

Ken Duffield ( Actor )

... 1956

The Last Frontier

Jed Cooper ( Actor )

... 1955

Chief Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse ( Actor )

... 1955

Violent Saturday

Shelley Martin ( Actor )

... 1955

Betrayed

'The Scarf' ( Actor )

... 1954

The Egyptian

Horemheb ( Actor )

... 1954

Demetrius and the Gladiators

Demetrius ( Actor )

... 1954

Dangerous Mission

Matt Hallett ( Actor )

... 1954

The Veils of Bagdad

Antar ( Actor )

... 1953

The Robe

Demetrius ( Actor )

... 1953

Affair with a Stranger

Bill Blakeley ( Actor )

... 1953

The Glory Brigade

Lt. Sam Pryor ( Actor )

... 1953

Million Dollar Mermaid

James Sullivan ( Actor )

... 1952

Androcles and the Lion

Captain ( Actor )

... 1952

Something for the Birds

Steve Bennett ( Actor )

... 1952

The Las Vegas Story

Lt. Dave Andrews ( Actor )

... 1952

Gambling House

Marc Fury ( Actor )

... 1950

Stella

Jeff DeMarco ( Actor )

... 1950

Wabash Avenue

Andy Clark ( Actor )

... 1950

Samson and Delilah

Samson ( Actor )

... 1949

Easy Living

Pete Wilson ( Actor )

... 1949

Red, Hot and Blue

Danny James ( Actor )

... 1949

Cry of the City

Lt. Candella ( Actor )

... 1948

Fury at Furnace Creek

Cash Blackwell / Tex Cameron ( Actor )

... 1948

Kiss of Death

Nick Bianco ( Actor )

... 1947

Moss Rose

Michael Drego ( Actor )

... 1947

My Darling Clementine

Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday ( Actor )

... 1946

Seven Days' Leave

Johnny Grey ( Actor )

... 1942

Footlight Serenade

Tommy Lundy ( Actor )

... 1942

My Gal Sal

Paul Dresser ( Actor )

... 1942

Song of the Islands

Jefferson Harper ( Actor )

... 1942

The Shanghai Gesture

Doctor Omar ( Actor )

... 1941

I Wake Up Screaming

Frankie Christopher (Botticelli) ( Actor )

... 1941

No, No, Nanette

William Trainor ( Actor )

... 1940

Captain Caution

Daniel 'Dan' Marvin ( Actor )

... 1940

One Million B.C.

Tumak ( Actor )

... 1940

... 1939