Victor Mature
Encyclopedia
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film and television actor.

Early life

Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 to an Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

-speaking father from the town Pinzolo
Pinzolo
Pinzolo is a small town and comune situated in Val Rendena in Trentino in the northern Italian Alps at an altitude of 800 m.It is mainly known as a ski resort during the winter months.-External links:...

, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 (now Trentino in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, at that time Austrian-Hungarian Empire), Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, a cutler, and a Kentucky-born mother of Swiss-American heritage, Clara P. Ackley. An older brother, Marcellus Paul Mature, died at 11 in 1918 from osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis simply means an infection of the bone or bone marrow...

. Victor Mature was educated at parochial schools, the Kentucky Military Institute
Kentucky Military Institute
The Kentucky Military Institute was a military preparatory school in Lyndon, Kentucky and Venice, Florida, in operation from 1845 to 1971....

 and the Spencerian Business School
Spencerian College
Spencerian College is a career college in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky. Students may receive a certificate, diploma, or associate degree in a variety of fields of study including Health Sciences, Business, Graphic Design, Computer Aided Design, and others. All of the programs are taught in...

. He briefly sold candy and operated a restaurant before moving to California.

Discovered while on stage at the Pasadena Community Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...

, his first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman
Caveman
A caveman or troglodyte is a stock character based upon widespread concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans may have looked and behaved...

 in One Million B.C.
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....

(1940), after which he joined 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

 to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...

 and Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...

.

World War II

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 , which was doing Greenland patrol work. After 14 months aboard the Storis, Mature was promoted to the rate of Chief Boatswain's Mate
Boatswain's Mate (US Coast Guard)
The most versatile member of the Coast Guard's operational team is the boatswain's mate . Boatswain's mates are masters of seamanship. BMs are capable of performing almost any task in connection with deck maintenance, small boat operations, navigation, and supervising all personnel assigned to a...

. In 1944 he did a series of War Bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...

 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
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

 in April 1944 and toured the United States for the next year. In May 1945 Mature was reassigned to the Coast Guard manned troop transport which was involved in transferring troops to the Pacific Theater
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...

. 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
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

 in My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...

, playing Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...

 opposite Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

's Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...

. For the next decade, Mature settled into playing hard-boiled characters in a range of genres such as film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

, Westerns, and Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

  motion pictures like The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...

(with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

 and Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

) and its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators
Demetrius and the Gladiators
Demetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 sword and sandal drama film and a sequel to The Robe. It was made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C...

(with Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...

). Mature also starred with Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress celebrated for her great beauty who was a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".Lamarr also co-invented – with composer George Antheil – an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary to wireless...

 in Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...

's Biblical epic
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...

, Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah (1949 film)
Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...

(1949) and as Horemheb
Horemheb
Horemheb was the last Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty from either 1319 BC to late 1292 BC, or 1306 to late 1292 BC although he was not related to the preceding royal family and is believed to have been of common birth.Before he became pharaoh, Horemheb was the commander in chief...

 in The Egyptian
The Egyptian (film)
The Egyptian is an American 1954 epic film made in CinemaScope by 20th Century Fox, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on Mika Waltari's novel and the screenplay was adapted by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson...

(1954) with Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

 and Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...

. He reportedly stated he was successful in Biblical epics because he could "make with the holy look".

He also starred with Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...

 in Million Dollar Mermaid
Million Dollar Mermaid
Million Dollar Mermaid is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer biographical musical film of the life of Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. from a screenplay by Everett Freeman. The music score was by Adolph Deutsch, the...

(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
After the Fox
After the Fox is a 1966 British-Italian comedy film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay is in English, by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini....

(1966), co-written by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...

. In a similar vein in 1968 he played a giant, The Big Victor, in Head, a potpourri
Potpourri
Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses. It is usually placed in a decorative wooden bowl, or tied in small sachet made from sheer fabric....

 movie starring The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

. The character poked fun at both his screen image and, reportedly, RCA Victor who distributed Colgems Records
Colgems Records
Colgems Records was a record label which existed from 1966 to 1971. It was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Records, to issue records by The Monkees and other artists affiliated with Screen Gems. The label would also issue soundtrack...

, 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."

Death

Victor Mature died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

 in 1999, at his Rancho Santa Fe, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 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
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 located at 6780 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected filmography

Feature films
Year Title Role Notes
1940 Captain Caution
Captain Caution
Captain Caution is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Richard Wallace. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording .-Cast:* Victor Mature as Daniel 'Dan' Marvin* Louise Platt as Corunna Dorman...

Dan Marvin
1940 One Million B.C.
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....

Tumak Cave Man
>-
1940 No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette (1940 film)
No, No, Nanette is a 1940 American film directed by Herbert Wilcox and based on the musical of the same name.- Cast :*Anna Neagle as Nanette*Richard Carlson as Tom Gillespie*Victor Mature as William Trainor*Roland Young as Mr. "Happy" Jimmy Smith...

William Trainor
1941 I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...

Frankie Christopher (Botticelli) Alternative title: Hot Spot
1941 Doctor Omar
1942 My Gal Sal
My Gal Sal
My Gal Sal is a 20th Century Fox musical starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s composer and songwriter Paul Dresser and singer, Sally Elliot. The story it was based on was written by Paul Dresser's brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser...

Paul Dresser
1942 Seven Days Leave
1942 Song of the Islands
Song of the Islands
Song of the Islands is a 1942 musical comedy film starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. It was directed by Walter Lang and released through 20th Century Fox.-Plot:...

1943 Show Business at War
Show Business at War
Show Business at War is a short film made in 1943 to tout the United States film industry's contribution to the war effort. Several studios collaborated on the production and approximately 70 stars, producers, directors and studio executives appeared in it....

Himself Short subject
1946 My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...

Dr. John "Doc" Holliday
1947 Kiss of Death
Kiss of Death (1947 film)
Kiss of Death is a 1947 film noir movie directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer from a story by Eleazar Lipsky. The story revolves around the film's protagonist, a former robber, and the antagonist, the ruthless, violent Tommy Udo...

Nick Bianco
1948 Cry of the City
Cry of the City
Cry of the City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Robert Siodmak based on the novel by Henry Edward Helseth, The Chair for Martin Rome. Veteran film noir-writer Ben Hecht worked on the film's script, but is not credited...

Lt. Candella
1949 Red, Hot and Blue
Red, Hot and Blue (film)
Red, Hot and Blue is a 1949 musical comedy film starring Betty Hutton as an actress who gets mixed up with gangsters and murder. It has no connection to Cole Porter's play of the same name...

Danny James
1949 Easy Living
Easy Living (1949 film)
Easy Living is a 1949 American drama film directed by renowned horror and film noir director Jacques Tourneur, starring Victor Mature, Lizabeth Scott and Lucille Ball...

Pete Wilson
1949 Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah (1949 film)
Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...

Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....

1952 Lt. Dave Andrews
1952 Million Dollar Mermaid
Million Dollar Mermaid
Million Dollar Mermaid is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer biographical musical film of the life of Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. from a screenplay by Everett Freeman. The music score was by Adolph Deutsch, the...

James Sullivan
1952 Androcles and the Lion Captain
1953 Affair with a Stranger
Affair with a Stranger
Affair with a Stranger is a 1953 American comedy-drama starring Jean Simmons and Victor Mature. It was directed by Roy Rowland, and was originally to be released as Kiss and Run....

Bill Blakeley
1953 Demetrius
1954 Dangerous Mission
Dangerous Mission
Dangerous Mission is a 1954 American dramatic color film noir thriller starring Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, Vincent Price and William Bendix. The movie was produced by Irwin Allen, directed by Louis King and released by RKO Pictures...

Matt Hallett Alternative title: Rangers of the North
1954 Demetrius and the Gladiators
Demetrius and the Gladiators
Demetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 sword and sandal drama film and a sequel to The Robe. It was made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C...

Demetrius
1954 Horemheb
1954 Betrayed
Betrayed (1954 film)
Betrayed is a 1954 war drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, from a screenplay by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel. The music score was by Walter Goehr and Bronislau Kaper, the cinematography by Freddie Young....

The Scarf
1955 Chief Crazy Horse
Chief Crazy Horse (1955 film)
Chief Crazy Horse is a 1955 western film released by Universal Pictures and directed by George Sherman, starring Victor Mature. The film is a fictionalized biography of the Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse that, unusually for the time, portrays the Native American Indians in a more sympathetic...

Chief Crazy Horse
1955 The Last Frontier (1955 Film)
The Last Frontier (1955 film)
The Last Frontier is a 1955 American Western directed by Anthony Mann and starring Victor Mature, Guy Madison, Robert Preston and Anne Bancroft. The film is set during the Civil War at an isolated army base at the far reaches of the American frontier, where the Indians still far outnumber the...

Jed Cooper
1955 Violent Saturday
Violent Saturday
Violent Saturday is a 1955 American crime drama directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Victor Mature, Lee Marvin, Richard Egan and Stephen McNally. The film, set in a mining town, depicts the planning of a bank robbery as the nexus in the personal lives of several townspeople.Prominent actors...

Shelley Martin
1956 Zarak
Zarak
Zarak is a 1956 British Warwick Films CinemaScope action film based on the 1949 book The Story of Zarak Khan by A.J. Bevan. It was directed by Terence Young with assistance from John Gilling and Yakima Canutt...

Zarak Khan
1956 Safari Ken Duffield
1957 Interpol
Interpol (1957 film)
Interpol known in the USA as Pickup Alley is a 1957 British Warwick Films crime film starring Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard, Bonar Colleano and Sid James. It concerns an Interpol effort to stamp out a major drug-smuggling cartel in numerous countries around the world. Victor Mature...

Charles Sturgis Alternative title: Pickup Alley
1957 Harry Miller
1958 China Doll
China Doll (film)
China Doll is a 1958 romantic drama film set in the China Burma India Theater of World War II and starring Victor Mature and Li Hua Li.-Plot:...

Captain Cliff Brandon
1958 No Time to Die Sgt. David H. Thatcher Alternative title: Tank Force
1959 Henry Jasper "Hank" Whirling
1959 Timbuktu
Timbuktu (film)
Timbuktu is a 1959 black-and-white adventure film set in the city of the same name but filmed in the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Kanab, Utah...

Mike Conway
1959 Hannibal
Hannibal (1959 film)
Hannibal is a 1959 historical film based on the life on Hannibal the Conqueror, starring Victor Mature.-Plot:The film is a biographical account of Hannibal's life. The film begins with him and his men crossing the Alps...

Hannibal Alternative title: Annibale
1966 After the Fox
After the Fox
After the Fox is a 1966 British-Italian comedy film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay is in English, by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini....

Tony Powell
1968 Head
Head (film)
Head is a 1968 psychedelic comedy-adventure major motion picture, starring TV group The Monkees , and distributed by Columbia Pictures...

The Big Victor
1972 Every Little Crook and Nanny Carmine Ganucci
1976 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a 1976 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern, Teri Garr, and Art Carney...

Nick
1979 Firepower
Firepower (film)
Firepower is a 1979 British action film directed by Michael Winner and starring Sophia Loren, James Coburn, O.J. Simpson and Eli Wallach. It was the final film in the career of actor Victor Mature.-Synopsis:...

Harold Everett

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1977 M*A*S*H Dr. John "Doc" Holliday TV series, episode: "Movie Tonight"
Uncredited
1984 Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah (1984 film)
Samson and Delilah is a 1984 television movie adaptation of the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, starring Max von Sydow, Belinda Bauer, Antony Hamilton, Daniel Stern and Victor Mature, who played Samson in the 1949 film, having a small cameo as the father of Antony Hamilton's Samson...

Manoah
Manoah
Manoah is the father of Samson. Manoah means rest or quiet in Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible.Manoah was of the tribe of Dan, and lived in the city of Zorah. He and his wife were childless, but an angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and told her that she would give birth to a...

Television movie

External links

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