American leading man Victor John Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Clara P. (Ackley) and Marcellus George Mature, a cutler and knife sharpener. His father, born Marcello Gelindo Maturi in Pinzolo,
Trentino, was Italian, and his mother was of Swiss-German and German descent. 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
Vom Winde verweht (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
Faustrecht der Prärie (1946)
and in Henry Hathaway's
Der Todeskuß (1947) were among his
finest work, though he moved more and more frequently into more exotic
roles in films like
Samson und Delilah (1949) and
Sinuhe, der Ägypter (1954). Never an
energetic actor nor one of great artistic pretensions, he nevertheless
continued as a Hollywood stalwart both in programme and in more
prominent films like Das Gewand (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
Jagt den Fuchs (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"
(Samson und Delilah (1984)),
he retired for good. Rumors occasionally surfaced of another comeback,
most notably in a never-realized remake of
Panik am roten Fluß (1948) with
Sylvester Stallone, but none came to
fruition. He died of cancer at his Rancho Santa Fe, California, home in
1999.
