Victor Mature
| Victor Mature | |
|---|---|
.jpg) from the trailer for Kiss of Death (1947) |
|
| Born | Victor John Mature January 29, 1913 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 1999 (aged 86) Rancho Santa Fe, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1939–84 |
| Spouse |
Frances Charles (m. 1938–1940) |
Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to an Italian-speaking father from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol (now Trentino in Italy, at that time Austrian-Hungarian Empire), Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later 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.[6]
[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 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
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 film noir, Westerns, and Biblical motion pictures like The Robe (with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons) and its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Susan Hayward). Mature also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. DeMille's Biblical 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.[7]
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!"[8] 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."[9]
[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.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Victor Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Captain Caution | Dan Marvin | |
| 1940 | One Million B.C. | Tumak | Alternative title: Cave Man |
| 1940 | No, No, Nanette | William Trainor | |
| 1941 | I Wake Up Screaming | Frankie Christopher (Botticelli) | Alternative title: Hot Spot |
| 1941 | The Shanghai Gesture | Doctor Omar | |
| 1942 | My Gal Sal | Paul Dresser | |
| 1942 | Seven Days Leave | ||
| 1942 | Song of the Islands | ||
| 1943 | Show Business at War | Himself | Short subject |
| 1946 | My Darling Clementine | Dr. John "Doc" Holliday | |
| 1947 | Kiss of Death | Nick Bianco | |
| 1948 | Cry of the City | Lt. Candella | |
| 1948 | Fury at Furnace Creek | Cash Blackwell/Tex Cameron | |
| 1949 | Red, Hot and Blue | Danny James | |
| 1949 | Easy Living | Pete Wilson | |
| 1949 | Samson and Delilah | Samson | |
| 1952 | The Las Vegas Story | Lt. Dave Andrews | |
| 1952 | Million Dollar Mermaid | James Sullivan | |
| 1952 | Androcles and the Lion | Captain | |
| 1953 | Affair with a Stranger | Bill Blakeley | |
| 1953 | The Robe | Demetrius | |
| 1954 | Dangerous Mission | Matt Hallett | Alternative title: Rangers of the North |
| 1954 | Demetrius and the Gladiators | Demetrius | |
| 1954 | The Egyptian | Horemheb | |
| 1954 | Betrayed | The Scarf | |
| 1955 | Chief Crazy Horse | Chief Crazy Horse | |
| 1955 | The Last Frontier (1955 Film) | Jed Cooper | |
| 1955 | Violent Saturday | Shelley Martin | |
| 1956 | Zarak | Zarak Khan | |
| 1956 | Safari | Ken Duffield | |
| 1957 | Interpol | Charles Sturgis | Alternative title: Pickup Alley |
| 1957 | The Long Haul | Harry Miller | |
| 1958 | China Doll | Captain Cliff Brandon | |
| 1958 | No Time to Die | Sgt. David H. Thatcher | Alternative title: Tank Force |
| 1959 | The Big Circus | Henry Jasper "Hank" Whirling | |
| 1959 | Timbuktu | Mike Conway | |
| 1959 | Hannibal | Hannibal | Alternative title: Annibale |
| 1966 | After the Fox | Tony Powell | |
| 1968 | Head | The Big Victor | |
| 1972 | Every Little Crook and Nanny | Carmine Ganucci | |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Nick | |
| 1979 | Firepower | Harold Everett |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | M*A*S*H | Dr. John "Doc" Holliday | TV series, episode: "Movie Tonight" Uncredited |
| 1984 | Samson and Delilah | Manoah | Television movie |
[edit] References
- ^ 1920 U.S. Census, Louisville Ward 4, Jefferson, Kentucky; Roll: T625_578; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 98; Image: 1039
- ^ World War I Draft Registration, Jefferson County, Kentucky; Roll: 1653508; Draft Board: 3
- ^ 1900 U.S. Census, Louisville Ward 4, Jefferson, Kentucky; Roll: T623 529; Page: 10A
- ^ Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky
- ^ a b Wise, James E., Jr. and Anne Collier Rehill. Stars in Blue. Naval Institute Press, 1997, p. 201. ISBN 1-55750-937-9.
- ^ Vallance, Tom (1999-08-11). "Obituary: Victor Mature". independent.co.uk. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-victor-mature-1112009.html. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography, Esther Williams, Simon & Schuster, 1999 pgs. 212-213 ISBN 0156011352
- ^ Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard History
- ^ Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The International Years. St. Martin's Press, 1972, p. 330
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Victor Mature |
- 1913 births
- 1999 deaths
- People from Louisville, Kentucky
- American people of Swiss-Italian descent
- Actors from Kentucky
- American military personnel of World War II
- American film actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- Cancer deaths in California
- Deaths from leukemia
- People from Rancho Santa Fe, California
- United States Coast Guard personnel
- Burials in Kentucky
