VICTOR MATURE

'Victor Mature' (29 January 1913 – 4 August 1999), an American film actor, was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a Tyrolean father, Marcellus George Mature, a cutler, and a Swiss-American mother, Clara Mature. He is often described as an early exemplar of the term "beefcake" due to his muscular physique and stolid onscreen manner. But unlike any of his contemporaries and his many successors, Mature always brought a sense of fragility, doubt and uncertainty to his characters. His Samson in ''Samson and Delilah'' is without doubt his best known role; not because of the beefcake, but for the pathos he brings to the blinded hero.
Discovered while on stage at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, his first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman in ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), after which he joined 20th Century Fox to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. However, with the US entry into World War II, Mature entered military service. Rejected by the Navy for color blindness, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, reaching the rank of chief boatswain mate by the war's end.
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). Both films deal with the fate of the robe worn by Jesus before the crucifixion. 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.
Mature was under no illusions about his acting prowess and was more modest about it than he perhaps deserved. 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 67 films to prove it!"
Victor Mature died of leukemia at his Rancho Santa Fe, California, home in 1999, at the age of 86. After his death, his body was brought back to his hometown of Louisville and was buried in his family's burial plot at St. Michael's Cemetery, 1300 Ellison Avenue.

Contents

Filmography

Trivia

External links

Filmography

;'Features'

★ ''The Housekeeper's Daughter'' (1939) ★ ''One Million B.C.'' (1940) ★ ''Captain Caution'' (1940) ★ ''No, No, Nanette'' (1940) ★ ''I Wake Up Screaming'' (1941) ★ ''The Shanghai Gesture'' (1941) ★ ''Song of the Islands'' (1942) ★ ''My Gal Sal'' (1942) ★ ''Footlight Serenade'' (1942) ★ ''Seven Days' Leave'' (1942) ★ ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946) ★ ''Moss Rose'' (1947) ★ ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ★ ''Fury at Furnace Creek'' (1948) ★ ''Cry of the City'' (1948) ★ ''Easy Living'' (1949) ★ ''Red, Hot and Blue'' (1949) ★ ''Samson and Delilah'' (1949) ★ ''Wabash Avenue'' (1950)

★ ''Stella'' (1950) ★ ''I'll Get By'' (1950) (Cameo) ★ ''Gambling House'' (1951) ★ ''The Las Vegas Story'' (1952) ★ ''Something for the Birds'' (1952) ★ ''Million Dollar Mermaid'' (1952) ★ ''Androcles and the Lion'' (1952) ★ ''The Glory Brigade'' (1953) ★ ''Affair with a Stranger'' (1953) ★ ''The Robe'' (1953) ★ ''The Veils of Bagdad'' (1953) ★ ''Dangerous Mission'' (1954) ★ ''Demetrius and the Gladiators'' (1954) ★ ''The Egyptian'' (1954) ★ ''Betrayed'' (1954) ★ ''Chief Crazy Horse'' (1955) ★ ''Violent Saturday'' (1955) ★ ''The Last Frontier'' (1955)

★ ''Safari'' (1956) ★ ''The Sharkfighters'' (1956) ★ ''Zarak'' (1956) ★ ''Interpol'' (1957) ★ ''The Long Haul'' (1957) ★ ''No Time to Die'' (1958) ★ ''China Doll'' (1958) ★ ''Escort West'' (1958) ★ ''Timbuktu'' (1959) ★ ''The Bandit of Zhobe'' (1959) ★ ''The Big Circus'' (1959) ★ ''Hannibal'' (1959) ★ ''The Tartars'' (1961) ★ ''After the Fox'' (1966) ★ ''Head'' (1968) ★ ''Every Little Crook and Nanny'' (1972) ★ ''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' (1976) ★ ''Firepower'' (1979)

;'Short subjects'

★ ''Show Business at War'' (1943)

★ ''Screen Snapshots Series 24, No. 4'' (1944)

★ ''Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Victory Show'' (1946)

Trivia

★ Mature played a giant, The Big Victor, in ''Head'', a potpourri movie starring The Monkees. The character poked fun at both his 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. "All I know is it makes me laugh."

★ A Los Angeles band adopted the name Hornets Attack Victor Mature, inspired by a newspaper headline. R.E.M. decided to use that pseudonym for a 1985 performance out of sheer amusement.

★ When asked why he was not interested in seeing the film ''Samson and Delilah'', Groucho Marx, referring to Mature and co-star Hedy Lamarr, reportedly said "I'm not interested in a film where the man's tits are bigger than the woman's".

★ He owned a rare red Rolls-Royce golf cart that was often seen at the Rancho Santa Fe country club.

External links

★

★ Mature's Matinee - The Victor Mature Fan Club and Website

★ Grave of Victor Mature, with GPS coordinates