Victor John Mature was an American stage film and television actor In July 1942 Mature attempted to enlist in the US Navy but was rejected for color blindness He enlisted in the US Coast Guard after taking a different eye test the same day He was assigned to the USCGC Storis WMEC38 which was doing Greenland patrol work After 14 months aboard the Storis Mature was promoted to the rate of Chief Boatswains Mate In 1944 he did a series of War Bond tours and acted in morale 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 of 1944 and toured the United States for the next year In May 1945 Mature was reassigned to the Coast Guard manned troop transport USS Admiral H T Mayo AP125 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 Film career After the war Mature was cast by John Ford in My Darling Clementine playing Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fondas Wyatt Earp For the next decade Mature settled into playing hardboiled 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 Mature also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B DeMilles 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 according to her autobiography had a romantic relationship with her After five years of retirement he was lured back into acting by the opportunity to parody himself in After the Fox 1966 cowritten by Neil Simon In a similar vein in 1968 he played a giant The Big Victor in Head a potpourri movie starring The Monkees The character poked fun at both his screen image and reportedly RCA Victor who distributed Colgems Records the Monkeess label Mature enjoyed the script while admitting it made no sense to him stating All I know is it makes me laugh Mature was famously selfdeprecatory about his acting skills Once after being rejected for membership in a country club because he was an actor he cracked Im not an actor and Ive got sixtyfour films to prove it 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 Victor Mature died of leukemia in 1999 at his Rancho Santa Fe California home at the age of 86 He was buried in the family plot at St Michaels Cemetery in his hometown of Louisville For his contribution to the motion picture industry Victor Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Blvd
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