Victor Mature

Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor. --- Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, was an Italian-speaking immigrant from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol (now Trentino in Italy, at that time Austrian-Hungarian Empire); he was a cutler. His mother, Clara P. (Ackley), was Kentucky-born and of Swiss heritage. An older brother, Marcellus Paul Mature, died at 11 in 1918 from osteomyelitis. Victor Mature was educated at parochial schools, the Kentucky Military Institute and the Spencerian Business School. He briefly sold candy and operated a restaurant before moving to California. Mature went to study and act at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. For three years he lived in a tent and was spotted by an agent for Hal Roach while acting in To Quito and Back. This led to a contract with Roach, who cast him in a small role in The Housekeeper's Daughter then gave Mature his first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman in One Million B.C. (1940). This was followed up with Captain Caution. In 1941 Mature's contract was bought out by 20th Century Fox who used him to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. He also supported Gertrude Lawrence on Broadway in Lady in the Dark. --- Mature was married five times. His first two wives were Frances Charles and Martha Stephenson Kemp. His third wife, Dorothy, whom he married in 1948, divorced him in 1955 alleging mental cruelty. He married Adriene Urwick in 1959 but they divorced. He had also been engaged to Rita Hayworth (before she married Orson Welles) and Anne Shirley. --- 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, marked by a replica of the Angel of Grief, at St. Michael's Cemetery in his hometown of Louisville. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Mature has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6780 Hollywood Boulevard.