Victor Mature
Victor Mature
Victor Mature Signed Album Page
Autograph in pencil on album page, from the collection of another actor of the same period.
VICTOR MATURE (1913-1999) was an American film actor. 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.
After World War II, 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. 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 had a romantic relationship with her according to her autobiography. Mature was famously modest about his acting skill. 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!” (Another account has him saying either “…and I’ve got a scrapbook of reviews to prove it!” or “Have you seen any of my films?”) He has been quoted as commenting on his acting career: “Actually, I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor. Ask anybody, particularly the critics.”
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