Victor Mature
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Victor Mature (born in Louisville, Kentucky; 29 January 1915–4 August 1999) was an American film actor. He was most commonly associated with the term beefcake due to his muscular physique and stolid onscreen manner.
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. However, with the US entry into World War II, Mature entered military service.
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. Victor also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. Demille's Bible epic, Samson and Delilah.
Mature was under no illusions as to his acting prowess. 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 67 films to prove it!"
Victor Mature died of leuakemia on 4 August 1999, at the age of 84. He was once incorrectly listed as dead in a film book.
Filmography
- The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939)
- One Million B.C. (1940)
- Captain Caution (1940)
- No, No, Nanette (1940)
- I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
- The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
- Song of the Islands (1942)
- My Gal Sal (1942)
- Footlight Serenade (1942)
- Seven Days' Leave (1942)
- Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Victory Show (1946) (short subject)
- My Darling Clementine (1946)
- Moss Rose (1947)
- Kiss of Death (1947)
- Fury of Furnace Creek (1948)
- Cry of the City (1948)
- Easy Living (1949)
- Red, Hot and Blue (1949)
- Samson and Delilah (1949)
- Wabash Avenue (1950)
- Stella (1950)
- I'll Get By (1950) (Cameo)
- Gambling House (1951)
- The Las Vegas Story (1952)
- Something for the Birds (1952)
- Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
- Androcles and the Lion (1952)
- The Glory Brigade (1953)
- Affair with a Stranger (1953)
- The Robe (1953)
- The Veils of Bagdad (1953)
- Dangerous Mission (1954)
- Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
- The Egyptian (1954)
- Betrayed (1954)
- Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
- Violent Saturday (1955)
- The Last Frontier (1955)
- Safari (1956)
- The Sharkfighters (1956)
- Zarak (1956)
- Pickup Alley (1957)
- The Long Haul (1957)
- China Doll (1958) (also producer)
- Tank Force (1958)
- Escort West (1958)
- Timbuktu (1959)
- The Bandit of Zhobe (1959)
- The Big Circus (1959)
- Hannibal (1960)
- The Tartars (1961)
- Lykke og krone (1962) (documentary)
- After the Fox (1966)
- Head (1968)
- Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
- Firepower (1979)
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