Victor Mature

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Victor Mature

from the trailer for Kiss of Death (1947)
Born January 29, 1913(1913-01-29)
Louisville, Kentucky,
United States
Died August 4, 1999 (aged 86)
Rancho Santa Fe, California, United States
Spouse(s) Frances Charles
(1938-1940)
Martha Stephenson Kemp
(1941-1943)
Dorothy Standford Berry
(1948-1955)
Adrienne Joy Urwick
(1959-1969)
Loretta G. Sebena
(1974-1999)

Victor Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American film actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Victor John Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a German-speaking father from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Italy, Marcellus George Mature [1][2] a cutler, and a Kentucky-born mother of Swiss-American heritage, Clara P. Ackley.[3] An older brother, Marcellus Paul Mature, died at 11 in 1918 from osteomyelitis.[4] Victor Mature was educated at parochial schools, the Kentucky Military Institute and the Spencerian Business School. He briefly sold candy and operated a restaurant before moving to California.[5]

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.

[edit] 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 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.[5]

[edit] Film career

Victor Mature in the trailer for Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)

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. 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 had a romantic relationship with her according to her autobiography. [6] After five years of retirement in 1966 he was lured back into acting by the opportunity to parody himself in After the Fox, 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 modest about his acting skill. 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!"[7] 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."[8]

[edit] Death

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.

[edit] Filmography

Features
Short subjects

[edit] References

  1. ^ 1920 U.S. Census, Louisville Ward 4, Jefferson, Kentucky; Roll: T625_578; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 98; Image: 1039
  2. ^ World War I Draft Registration, Jefferson County, Kentucky; Roll: 1653508; Draft Board: 3
  3. ^ 1900 U.S. Census, Louisville Ward 4, Jefferson, Kentucky; Roll: T623 529; Page: 10A
  4. ^ Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky
  5. ^ a b Wise, James E., Jr. and Anne Collier Rehill. Stars in Blue. Naval Institute Press, 1997, p. 201. ISBN 1-55750-937-9.
  6. ^ The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography, Esther Williams, Simon & Schuster, 1999 ISBN 0156011352
  7. ^ Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard History site http://www.uscg.mil/history/FAQS/victormature.asp
  8. ^ Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The International Years. St. Martin's Press, 1972, p. 330

[edit] External links

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