Victor Mature

Victor John Mature
1915 - 1999 (leukemia)
American born Louisville, Kentucky

Nickname Beautiful Hunk of Man, The Hunk . Height 6' 2½" (1.89 m) . American leading man. Born Victor John Mature (to a German-speaking Tyrolean father, Marcellus George Mature, a cutler, and a Swiss-American mother, Clara Mature) in Louisville, Kentucky, Victor Mature worked as a teenager with his father as a salesman for butcher supplies. Hoping to become an actor, he studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. He auditioned for Gone with the Wind (1939) for the role ultimately played by his fellow Playhouse student, George Reeves. After achieving some acclaim in his first few films, he served in the Coast Guard in World War II. Mature became one of Hollywood's busiest and most popular actors after the war, though rarely was he given the critical respect he often deserved. His roles in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946) and in Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death (1947) were among his finest work, though he moved more and more frequently into more exotic roles in films like Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Egyptian (1954). Never an energetic actor nor one of great artistic pretensions, he nevertheless continued as a Hollywood stalwart both in programmers and in more prominent films like The Robe (1953). More interested in golf than acting, his appearances diminished through the 1960s, but he made a stunning comeback of sorts in a hilarious romp as a very Victor Mature-like actor in Neil Simon's Caccia alla volpe (1966). Golf eventually took over his activities, and after a cameo as Samson's father in a TV remake of his own "Samson and Delilah", he retired for good. Rumors occasionally surfaced of another comeback, most notably in a never-realized remake of Red River (1948) with Sylvester Stallone, but none came to fruition. He died of cancer at his Rancho Santa Fe, California, home in 1999. Spouse Loretta Sebena (1974 - 4 August 1999) (his death), Adrienne Joy Urwick (27 September 1959 - 6 February 1969) (divorced), Dorothy Stanford Berry (28 February 1948 - 8 November 1955) (divorced), Martha Stephenson Kemp (17 June 1941 - 10 February 1943) (divorced), Frances Charles (30 January 1938 - 1940) (annulled).

Samson and Delilah (1984) , Firepower (1979) , Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) , Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972) , Head (1968), Caccia alla volpe (1966) , Tartari, I (1961) , Annibale (1960) , The Big Circus (1959) , The Bandit of Zhobe (1959) , Timbuktu (1959) , Escort West (1958) , China Doll (1958) , No Time to Die (1958) , The Long Haul (1957) , Interpol (1957) , Zarak (1956) , The Sharkfighters (1956) , Safari (1956) , The Last Frontier (1955) , Violent Saturday (1955) , Chief Crazy Horse (1955) , Betrayed (1954) , The Egyptian (1954) , Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) , Dangerous Mission (1954) , The Veils of Bagdad (1953) , The Robe (1953) , Affair with a Stranger (1953) , The Glory Brigade (1953) , Androcles and the Lion (1952) , Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) , Something for the Birds (1952) , The Las Vegas Story (1952) , Gambling House (1951) , I'll Get By (1950) , Stella (1950) , Wabash Avenue (1950) , Samson and Delilah (1949) , Red, Hot and Blue (1949) , Easy Living (1949) , Cry of the City (1948) , Fury at Furnace Creek (1948) , Kiss of Death (1947) , Moss Rose (1947) , My Darling Clementine (1946) , Seven Days' Leave (1942), Footlight Serenade (1942) , My Gal Sal (1942) , Song of the Islands (1942) , The Shanghai Gesture (1941) , I Wake Up Screaming (1941), No, No, Nanette (1940) , Captain Caution (1940) , One Million B.C. (1940) , The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939)