Victor Mature

Biography

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

Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday

My Darling Clementine

Tumak

One Million B.C.

Lt. Candella

Cry of the City

Jed Cooper

The Last Frontier

Crazy Horse

Chief Crazy Horse

Nick Bianco

Kiss of Death

Frankie Christopher (Botticelli)

I Wake Up Screaming

Horemheb

The Egyptian

Lt. Dave Andrews

The Las Vegas Story

Demetrius

The Robe

Samson

Samson and Delilah

Nick

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

Doctor Omar

The Shanghai Gesture

Demetrius

Demetrius and the Gladiators

James Sullivan

Million Dollar Mermaid

Tommy Lundy

Footlight Serenade

Michael Drego

Moss Rose

Harry Miller

The Long Haul

Charles Sturgis

Interpol

Marc Fury

Gambling House

Shelley Martin

Violent Saturday

Ben Lassiter

Escort West

The Big Victor

Head

Ken Duffield

Safari

Captain

Androcles and the Lion

Tony Powell

After the Fox

'The Scarf'

Betrayed

Lt. Sam Pryor

The Glory Brigade

Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves

The Sharkfighters

Pete Wilson

Easy Living

Bill Blakeley

Affair with a Stranger

Johnny Grey

Seven Days' Leave

Carmine Ganucci

Every Little Crook and Nanny

Paul Dresser

My Gal Sal

Narrator (voice)

House of Dreams

Andy Clark

Wabash Avenue

Matt Hallett

Dangerous Mission

(archive footage)

La verifica incerta

Daniel 'Dan' Marvin

Captain Caution

Cash Blackwell / Tex Cameron

Fury at Furnace Creek

Henry Jasper 'Hank' Whirling

The Big Circus

Capt. Cliff Brandon

China Doll

Hannibal

Annibale

Kasmin Khan

The Bandit Of Zhobe

Jeff DeMarco

Stella

Oleg

I tartari

Mike Conway

Timbuktu

Lefty

The Housekeeper's Daughter

Self (archive footage)

Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

Danny James

Red, Hot and Blue

Sgt. David Thatcher

Tank Force!

Zarak Khan

Zarak

Jefferson Harper

Song of the Islands

Steve Bennett

Something for the Birds

Manoah

Samson and Delilah

Howard Everett

Firepower

William Trainor

No, No, Nanette

Antar

The Veils of Bagdad

Self

Show-Business at War

Self (archive footage)

Mi Marilyn

Self (Archival Footage)

Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults

Self (archive footage)

Zwischen Glück und Krone

Self (archive footage)

Dynamite Chicken