1913-01-29 ( 112 years old ) in Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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.
Movies
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
1986-04-19
Samson and Delilah
1984-03-31
Firepower
1979-04-27
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
1976-07-26
Mi Marilyn
1975-01-02
Every Little Crook and Nanny
1972-06-14
Head
1968-11-06
After the Fox
1966-09-08
Uncertain Verification
1965-04-30
The Tartars
1961-04-01
Hannibal
1959-12-21
Timbuktu
1959-11-22
The Big Circus
1959-07-05
The Bandit Of Zhobe
1959-04-01
Escort West
1959-01-23
China Doll
1958-06-06
Tank Force!
1958-04-22
The Long Haul
1957-08-27
Interpol
1957-04-02
Zarak
1956-12-01
The Sharkfighters
1956-11-01
Safari
1956-06-20
The Last Frontier
1955-12-07
Chief Crazy Horse
1955-04-01
Violent Saturday
1955-04-01
Betrayed
1954-09-07
The Egyptian
1954-08-25
Demetrius and the Gladiators
1954-06-16
Dangerous Mission
1954-03-06
The Veils of Bagdad
1953-10-06
The Robe
1953-09-16
Affair with a Stranger
1953-06-20
The Glory Brigade
1953-05-20
Million Dollar Mermaid
1952-12-04
Androcles and the Lion
1952-12-01
Something for the Birds
1952-09-30
The Las Vegas Story
1952-01-30
House of Dreams
1951-07-05
Gambling House
1950-12-27
Stella
1950-07-20
Wabash Avenue
1950-03-31
Samson and Delilah
1949-12-21
Easy Living
1949-10-08
Red, Hot and Blue
1949-09-05
Cry of the City
1948-09-29
Fury at Furnace Creek
1948-04-30
Kiss of Death
1947-08-27
Moss Rose
1947-05-30
My Darling Clementine
1946-10-17
Show-Business at War
1943-05-21
Seven Days' Leave
1942-11-13
Footlight Serenade
1942-08-01
My Gal Sal
1942-04-30
Song of the Islands
1942-03-13
The Shanghai Gesture
1941-12-25
I Wake Up Screaming
1941-10-31
No, No, Nanette
1940-12-19
Captain Caution
1940-08-09
One Million B.C.
1940-04-05
The Housekeeper's Daughter
1939-10-26
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