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Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
Because Hal Roach only made a handful of movies every year, he loaned out Mature's services to RKO, who used him as a leading man in the Anna Neagle–Herbert Wilcox musical, No, No, Nanette. The studio people were so pleased with his performance that they bought an option to take over half of Mature's contract with Hal Roach, enabling them to draw on his services for two films a year over three years. Wilcox wanted to reunite Mature with Neagle in Sunny. Roach announced Mature would support Victor McLaglen in Broadway Limited, but Mature was not cast in the final film.
First, this secretary came out saying 'What a beautiful hunk of man!' Then Danny Kaye topped that with a long, long introductory number. Finally, I made my entrance. John Barrymore told me I was the only person who could have followed up on all that."Victor Mature Hits Stride" Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 7 December 1966: D15.
The musical debuted on Broadway in January 1941 and was a smash hit, making a star of Danny Kaye and Macdonald Carey and causing fresh appreciation for Mature's talents. His performance was well received, Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times calling him "unobjectionably handsome and affable"."THE PLAY IN REVIEW: Gertrude Lawrence Appears in Moss Hart's Musical Drama, 'Lady in the Dark,' With a Score by Kurt Weill and Lyrics by Ira Gershwin" by BROOKS ATKINSON. New York Times January 24, 1941: 14. The description of Randy Curtis in the musical – "Beautiful Hunk of Man" – would be frequently used to describe Mature throughout his career. Mature missed some of the run due to an emergency appendectomy,"ALDRICH AND MYERS BUY PLAY BY ACTOR: Allen Nourse's 'John Burgess, Berlin' Is Purchased for Production in Fall BARBARA KENT GETS ROLE Joins Cast of 'The Happiest Days' – 'Theatre' Undergoing Changes in Personnel" New York Times April 28, 1941: 11. but played the role until June.
Bowery Nightingale was not made, so Fox instead assigned Mature to appear in a thriller with Faye, I Wake Up Screaming (which had a working title of Hot Spot); Faye ended up being replaced with Betty Grable. Filming of The Shanghai Gesture was postponed to enable Mature to finish Screaming, which was a popular success. The Shanghai Gesture also proved popular.
Mature was announced for a Fox musical, Highway to Hell, which ended up being postponed; instead, he replaced John Payne in a Betty Grable musical, Song of the Islands (Mature was replaced in turn on Highway by Cesar Romero).
Mature was paid $450 a week under his contract with Roach for Shanghai Gesture, but Roach received $3750 a week for Mature's services. Roach received $22,000 for Mature in Song of the Islands, but Mature was paid $4,000. He asked for a pay increase of $1,250 a week.
RKO wanted Mature for Passage to Bordeaux and Josef von Sternberg wanted him for Lady Paname. Instead, Mature made another musical for Fox, supporting Rita Hayworth in My Gal Sal (a role originally meant for Don Ameche).
In November 1941, Fox bought out the four years remaining on Mature's contract with Hal Roach for $80,000. (This included loan out provisions to RKO.) Roach had not wanted to sell, but he was in financial difficulties and his backers insisted. Mature would be paid $1,500 a week. He had also had six commitments with RKO. "The studio Fox will have to make a success of me," Mature said.
"I wasn't pampered the way a Tyrone Power was," Mature recalled later of his time at Fox. "Zanuck would say, 'If you're not careful, I'll give you Mature for your next picture'."
Fox talked of reuniting Hayworth and Mature in a Russian set war film Ski Patrol. Instead, Mature was lent to RKO for a musical with Lucille Ball, Seven Days' Leave. This was followed by Footlight Serenade with Grable and Payne. All these films were very popular at the box office.
In 1944, he did a series of war bond tours and acted in morale-boosting 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 , 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.Wise, James E., Jr. and Anne Collier Rehill. Stars in Blue. Naval Institute Press, 1997, p. 201. .
Zanuck promised Mature that he would not assign him to musicals. Mature was cast in the period thriller Moss Rose and received a $50,000 bonus after shooting ended. His next film was the film noir Kiss of Death, which had been developed specifically as a vehicle for him.
While still at Fox, Mature replaced John Payne in the Western film Fury at Furnace Creek, costarring with Coleen Gray, who had also starred in Kiss of Death with Mature. Fox announced plans to team them for a third time in a remake of Seventh Heaven, but the film did not materialize. Instead, he costarred with Richard Conte in Cry of the City, a thriller directed by Robert Siodmak. Mature's performance as a world-weary cop was widely praised; one reviewer noted that he "turns in an excellent performance, arguably the best of his career."
Mature still had a pre-war obligation to make a film at RKO. He was announced for Battleground before being cast in Interference, a serious drama about football that would become Easy Living in 1949, starring Lucille Ball.
During filming, Mature was frightened by a number of the animals and mechanical props used in the production, including the lions, the wind machine, the swords and even the water. This infuriated the director, DeMille, who bellowed through his megaphone at the assembled cast and crew:
“I have met a few men in my time. Some have been afraid of heights, some have been afraid of water, some have been afraid of fire, some have been afraid of closed spaces. Some have even been afraid of open spaces – or themselves. But in all my 35 years of picture-making experience, Mr. Mature, I have not until now met a man who was 100 percent yellow.”
While Samson was in postproduction, Paramount used Mature in another film, co-starring with Betty Hutton in Red, Hot and Blue, his first musical in a number of years. It was not particularly popular, and Easy Living was a flop, but Samson and Delilah earned over $12 million during its original run, making it the most popular movie of the 1940s, and responsible for ushering in a cycle of spectacles set in the ancient world.
Mature returned to Fox and was put in a popular musical with Betty Grable, Wabash Avenue. It was directed by Henry Koster who recalled Mature was "nice to work with, amusing. He very much looked out for his money always."
Back at Fox, he supported Ann Sheridan in a comedy, Stella. In 1949, he was directed by Jacques Tourneur in Easy Living.
In September 1950, he was making a film in Montana about fire fighters, Wild Winds, for Fox with John Lund. Mature injured himself in a motorcycle accident . After Lund was stung by a wasp and the location was snowed in, it was decided to abandon the film. (It was later filmed with new stars as Red Skies of Montana.)
Mature took a number of months off, before returning to filmmaking with The Las Vegas Story, with Jane Russell at RKO. RKO released – but did not produce – Mature's next film, Androcles and the Lion, an adaptation of the play by George Bernard Shaw with Mature as a Roman centurion. Like Las Vegas Story, it was a box-office failure.
Far more popular was a musical he made at MGM, Million Dollar Mermaid with Esther Williams, a biopic of Annette Kellermann, playing Kellermann's promoter husband. According to Williams's autobiography, she and Mature had a romantic relationship.
Back at Fox, Mature was meant to be reteamed with Betty Grable in a musical, The Farmer Takes a Wife, but the studio instead reassigned him to a comedy with Patricia Neal, Something for the Birds.
Back at RKO, Mature was meant to star in Split Second, but instead was reteamed with Jean Simmons in the romantic drama Affair with a Stranger. RKO still wanted him for Split Second, but instead Fox put him in a Korean War film, The Glory Brigade.
He followed this with a movie at Universal, The Veils of Bagdad. The release of this was held up until after that of Mature's next film, The Robe.
The Robe, the first CinemaScope movie to be released (ahead of How to Marry a Millionaire, which was actually the first film shot in the new process), was an enormous success, one of the most popular movies of all time."CinemaScope Supporters Confident: Hollywood Letter" by Richard Dyer MacCann. The Christian Science Monitor November 24, 1953: 11. Veils of Bagdad was not as popular, but Demetrius and the Gladiators was another hit.
Back at RKO, Mature made Dangerous Mission for producer Irwin Allen. He travelled to Holland in September 1953 to support Clark Gable and Lana Turner in a World War Two film made at MGM, Betrayed, another popular success."Drama: Victor Mature Likely for Europe; Westerns Claiming Philip Carey" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times September 18, 1953: 20.
Fox put Mature into another ancient history spectacle, The Egyptian. He was originally meant to co-star with Marlon Brando and Kirk Douglas."MOVIE PRODUCERS 'LURED' OVERSEAS: Foreign 'Pressures,' Including Subsidies, Basis for Trend, Actors' Spokesman Says" by THOMAS M. PRYOR . New York Times November 27, 1953: 22. Mature renewed his contract with Fox for another year, his 12th at that studio."Drama: Gann Book About Hong Kong Likely for Wayne; Gomez to Play Skipper" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times January 1, 1954: B7."Mature Renews Pact 12th Time" Los Angeles Times January 17, 1954: E4. The Egyptian ended up starring Mature with Edmund Purdom and Michael Wilding, plus Bella Darvi; it was a box-office disappointment.
Mature went over to Universal to play the title role in Chief Crazy Horse, in exchange for a fee and a percentage of the profits."SUBSIDIES TO ITALY ON FILMS DECRIED: Talks on New Agreement Are Seeking End to the Practice, Held 'Dangerous' Precedent" by THOMAS M. PRYOR . New York Times May 22, 1954: 8.
In 1954, Mature signed a two-picture deal with Columbia Pictures, giving him script and co-star approval, at $200,000 a film.Hedda Hopper, 'Victor Mature Signs Deal for 2 Films at $200,000 Each' Chicago Daily Tribune November 6, 1954: 16. The first movie he made under this contract was The Last Frontier (1955). Before he started making that, however, he was called back to Fox to appear in the heist thriller, Violent Saturday."SPIEGEL ACQUIRES BOOK FILM RIGHTS: Producer Hopes to Get John Ford to Direct 'The Bridge Over the River Kwai'" by THOMAS M. PRYOR . New York Times November 20, 1954: 10 This was the last movie he made at Fox.
In May 1955, Mature signed a two-picture contract with Warwick Productions. Warwick was an English company that had success making films aimed at the international market with American stars; they released their films in the USA through Columbia Pictures. The first of Mature's films for Warwick was to be Zarak."TV PACT IS SIGNED BY SCREEN GUILD: Agreement by Du Mont and Union Includes Use of New Video Filming Method" by THOMAS M. PRYOR . New York Times May 9, 1955: 28. He ended up making Safari beforehand, a tale of the Mau Mau, filming on location in Kenya. Both Safari and Zarak were successful."I Wasn't Meant To Be A Hero" MATURE, VICTOR. Los Angeles Times December 16, 1956: N10.
Sam Goldwyn Jr, hired him to make The Sharkfighters, released through United Artists and shot on location in Cuba."'SHARKFIGHTERS' IN THE CARIBBEAN: Sam Goldwyn Jr. Films Drama on Location In and Off Cuba The Stars Seafarers The Story" by GRADY JOHNSON. New York Times April 1, 1956: 99. He was back with Warwick for Interpol, reteaming him with his Zarak co-star, Anita Ekberg, filmed in locations throughout Europe. In London, he made The Long Haul, a truck-driving drama with Diana Dors, the second film under his deal with Columbia.
Mature finally made a movie for his own production company, Romina Productions, in conjunction with United Artists and Batjac Productions: China Doll, directed by Frank Borzage, with Mature as co-producer. Mature and Borzage announced they would also make The Incorrigibles and Vaults of Heaven."Mature Arranges Pact With Borzage; Curtis Plans Matador Cinema" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times September 25, 1957: C13.
Mature signed to make two more films with Warwick Productions, No Time to Die (Tank Force) and The Man Inside."STUDIO SUSPENDS KIM NOVAK PACT: Columbia Acts After She Refuses Paramount Role-- Debbie Reynolds to Star Nature Has Its Way" . New York Times August 31, 1957: 18. He ended up only making the first, a World War II film with Libyan locations; Jack Palance took his role in The Man Inside. Mature made another movie for Romina and Batjac, a Western, Escort West. It was released by United Artists, which also distributed Timbuktu, a French Foreign Legion adventure tale that Mature made for producer Edward Small and director Jacques Tourneur.
Mature was reunited with producer Irwin Allen for The Big Circus, shot in early 1959."HOLLYWOOD ARENA: 'Big Circus' Troupe Works to Equal Big Top's Authenticity and Color" by THOMAS M. PRYOR HOLLYWOOD.. New York Times January 11, 1959: X7. He then made his second film for Warwick under his two-picture contract with them, The Bandit of Zhobe. Mature was developing a project called Cain and Able around this time but it was never made. In 1959 Warwick's Irving Allen said "You think I employ Victor Mature because I like that big lug? I employ him because he brings in the money and he isn't a genius boy."
Mature followed this with an Italian peplum, aka "sword-and-sandal" movie, Hannibal, playing the title role. It was shot in Italy, as was The Tartars with Orson Welles. Mature then retired from acting.
In a 1978 interview, Mature said of his decision to retire from acting at age 46: "It wasn't fun anymore. I was OK financially so I thought what the hell – I'll become a professional loafer.""Whatever Happened to Lady Joan?" Los Angeles Times June 27, 1978: f6.
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 64 films to prove it!"Kevin Thomas, 'Victor Mature Hits Stride', Los Angeles Times December 7, 1966: D15. 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."Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The International Years. St. Martin's Press, 1972, p. 330
He came out of retirement again in 1971 to star in Every Little Crook and Nanny and again in 1976 along with many other former Hollywood stars in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood. His last feature film appearance was a cameo as a millionaire in Firepower in 1979, while his final acting role was that of Samson's father Manoah in the TV movie Samson and Delilah in 1984. In a 1971 interview, Mature quipped about his decision to retire:
I was never that crazy about acting. I had a compulsion to earn money, not to act. So, I worked as an actor until I could afford to retire. I wanted to quit while I could still enjoy life ... I like to loaf. Everyone told me I would go crazy or die if I quit working. Yeah? Well, what a lovely way to die.Scott Vernon, 'Victor Mature's back', Chicago Tribune 21 November 1971: t20.
In 1980, he said he was "pretty proud of about 50% of my motion pictures. Demetrius and the Gladiators wasn't bad. The Robe and Samson and Delilah weren't bad. I made 72 of them and I made close to $18 million. So what the hell.""No Lions to Slay at Rancho Santa Fe" Tedrick, Dan. Los Angeles Times May 29, 1980: sd_a6 He said in the same interview his favorite actors were Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and especially Burt Reynolds.
For his contribution to the motion-picture industry, Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Boulevard.
Mature is an uninhibited creature of the naive. Simple, crude, and heady – like ketchup or treacle – he is a diet scorned by the knowing, but obsessive if succumbed to in error. It is too easy to dismiss Mature, for he surpasses badness. He is a strong man in a land of hundred pound weaklings, an incredible concoction of beef steak, husky voice, and brilliantine – a barely concealed sexual advertisement for soiled goods. Remarkably, he is as much himself in the cheerfully meretricious and the pretentiously serious. Such a career has no more pattern than a large ham; it slices consistently forever. The more lurid or distasteful the art the better Mature comes across.David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Little Brown 2002 p 576
| + Feature films | ||||
| 1939 | The Housekeeper's Daughter | Lefty | Hal Roach Studios | Film debut |
| 1940 | One Million B.C. | Tumak | Hal Roach Studios | Alternative title: Cave Man |
| Captain Caution | Dan Marvin | Hal Roach Studios | ||
| No, No, Nanette | William Trainor | RKO Studios | First screen musical | |
| 1941 | I Wake Up Screaming | Frankie Christopher (Botticelli) | 20th Century Fox | First film noir; Alternative title: Hot Spot |
| Doctor Omar | United Artists | |||
| 1942 | Song of the Islands | Jeff Harper | 20th Century Fox | |
| My Gal Sal | Paul Dresser | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Footlight Serenade | Tommy Lundy | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Seven Days' Leave | Johnny Grey | RKO | ||
| 1943 | Show Business at War | Himself | Short subject | |
| 1946 | My Darling Clementine | Doc Holliday | 20th Century Fox | First Western; directed by John Ford |
| 1947 | Moss Rose | Michael Drego | 20th Century Fox | |
| Kiss of Death | Nick Bianco | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 1948 | Fury at Furnace Creek | Cash Blackwell / Tex Cameron | 20th Century Fox | Western |
| Cry of the City | Lt. Candella | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 1949 | Easy Living | Pete Wilson | RKO | |
| Red, Hot and Blue | Danny James | Paramount | ||
| Samson and Delilah | Samson | Paramount | ||
| 1950 | Wabash Avenue | Andy Clark | 20th Century Fox | |
| Stella | Jeff DeMarco | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 1951 | Gambling House | Marc Fury | RKO | |
| 1952 | The Las Vegas Story | Lt. Dave Andrews | RKO | |
| Something for the Birds | Steve Bennett | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Million Dollar Mermaid | James Sullivan | MGM | First movie at MGM | |
| Androcles and the Lion | Captain | RKO | ||
| 1953 | The Glory Brigade | Lt. Sam Pryor | 20th Century Fox | |
| Affair with a Stranger | Bill Blakeley | RKO | ||
| Demetrius | 20th Century Fox | First movie in CinemaScope | ||
| 1954 | The Veils of Bagdad | Antar | Universal | |
| Dangerous Mission | Matt Hallett | RKO | Alternative title: Rangers of the North | |
| Demetrius and the Gladiators | Demetrius | 20th Century Fox | Sequel to The Robe | |
| Horemheb | 20th Century Fox | |||
| Betrayed | "The Scarf" | MGM | ||
| 1955 | Chief Crazy Horse | Chief Crazy Horse | Universal | |
| Violent Saturday | Shelley Martin | 20th Century Fox | ||
| The Last Frontier | Jed Cooper | Columbia Pictures | ||
| 1956 | Safari | Ken Duffield | Warwick Films | |
| The Sharkfighters | Lt. Commander Ben Staves | United Artists | ||
| Zarak | Zarak Khan | Warwick Films | First film for Warwick Films | |
| 1957 | Interpol | Charles Sturgis | Warwick Films | Alternative title: Pickup Alley |
| Harry Miller | ||||
| 1958 | No Time to Die | Sgt. David H. Thatcher | Warwick Films | Alternative title: Tank Force |
| China Doll | Captain Cliff Brandon | Made for Romina Productions, Mature's own company | ||
| Escort West | Ben Lassiter | Made for Romina Productions, Mature's own company | ||
| 1959 | The Bandit of Zhobe | Kasim Khan | Last movie for Warwick Films | |
| Henry Jasper "Hank" Whirling | Allied Artists | |||
| Timbuktu | Mike Conway | |||
| Hannibal | Hannibal | Alternative title: Annibale | ||
| 1962 | The Tartars | Oleg | MGM | |
| 1966 | After the Fox | Tony Powell | ||
| 1968 | Head | The Big Victor | ||
| 1972 | Every Little Crook and Nanny | Carmine Ganucci | MGM | |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Nick | Paramount | cameo |
| 1979 | Firepower | Harold Everett | cameo at film's conclusion |
| + Television | |||
| 1977 | M*A*S*H | Dr. John "Doc" Holliday | TV series, episode: "Movie Tonight" in movie footage from My Darling Clementine Uncredited |
| 1984 | Samson and Delilah | Manoah | TV movie, final film role |
| Coney Island |
| The Fortune Of Vargas |
| Joaquin Murietta, California Outlaw |
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