Victor Mature : Mature's Heritage

I just knew Victor Mature could not be SWISS! That's what I read about him but I just knew he was Italian! And he is! He certainly looks it with his dark good looks, bedroom eyes & thick lips! (He could play Sly Stallone's father.) I heard they were going to make a film together but it never came about. And now it's too late. Very sad. I loved Kiss of Death & the biblical films Vic did. He'll be missed...

He was always given a bad rap by the critics. I thought he was a good actor and
had a ton of screen presence. He was great as Samson, and in Kiss of Death and
Clementine. He was also fun to watch in the light musicals w/Grable + Haworth.
I thought he had rugged good looks ala Burt Lancaster

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He was also fun to watch in the light musicals w/Grable + Haworth.

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Could you please tell me the titles of those musicals? I haven't seen much of his work and it would be neat to see him in musicals.





Paulie: "Look at this place! No class in here!"
- Rocky III

rockyfansforum.tk

I feel just as vindicated as you about Victor Mature's heritage. In his NY Times obituary, it stated that his f 2000 amily was from Alsace-Lorraine, the region between Franch and Germany. But he certainly looks as Italian as can be and I'm glad my perception was right.

He was underrated as an actor and he certainly could have easily passed as Sly's father(and out-acted him as well!).

Mature had a great sense of humor. He apparently didn't take himself seriously at all. He quipped once that he was no hero when it came to doing his own stunts. "I don't even like walking up wet steps." And in one of the Biblical epics, he had to face a lion in the arena that was chained by its trainer. But Mature said that even if they removed all the lion's teeth, he'd still be afraid that it would gum him to death.

By the way, he owned a number of appliance stores. In 1950, he began to heavily stockpile TVs in his inventory. At the time, most Americans did not own one and there were those (as with talking pictures, VCRs, etc) who felt that television had no future. Well, in 1951-1952, with the popularity of Milton Berle and live boxing, sales of TVs soared and Mature made a fortune.

I think I would have enjoyed meeting him very much. He sounds like he was a real class act and a regular guy.

I agree. Very underrated. I think him along with Tyrone Power were two of the most underrated actors of their day. It was their looks that got in the way I think.
I was just over on the Law and Order board and we were talking about how Chris Noth looks just like him, forget about Stallone. Plus Noth can at least act. I hear he had a wonderful sense of humor. Just look at the way he parodied himself in the movie After the Fox, he stole the movie from Peter Sellers. Also I heard he was a avid golfer and he wanted to join this country club, but they did not allow actors in the club well he told them something like "I am no actor and I have 67 films to prove it"! I love it. That is a very interesting story about the appliance shop. He was one of my favorites.

Ohmigod! I have always thought Chris Noth looked just like Victor Mature too, but when I mention to some of my friends, they say they can't see it! I always thought Chris could play him in a bio.

How can anybody who has ever seen the two say they don't look like alike. They have to be related somehow or he was Mature's doppelganger. I just saw After the Fox the 5b4 other day for the 4 millionth time and Mature was older, Noth still looked just like him. He is even aging and looking like him! Most of my friends didn't even know who Victor Mature was, but the ones that do agree. I bet Noth is hearing that he looks like him all of the time. Put a Galdiator outfit on him and you wouldn't know the difference.

Just saw Kiss of Death tonight, first thing I thought of is that it was Chris Noth somehow acting in the 40s.

Isn't Chris North his grandson or something?

Hi you guys. I do believe Victor was German/Italian. He did "retire"
from Hollywood to the Rancho Santa Fe area of San Diego. And I don't doubt
they blacklisted him for some stupid reason. I grew up in San Diego. My Mom
managed a few restaurants while I was growing up. In the late 60's she ran
a high end restaurant called "The Steak House" in Del Mar, near the beach and
right by the Del Mar Race Track. All the Jockeys used to come in and also many
local celebrities. Victor was a regular. My Mom and he were pals.
On my 14th birthday (5 days after his, in 1969) I was headed in the outside
marquee as the "Guest Chef" of the night. I usually bussed tables on weekends, but got to hang out and just goof around with the customers that evening.
Well, to my luck, my favorite, handsome, bigger than life actor, Victor Mature,
came in for dinner and asked me to join him! So, I got to sit next to him in a
booth for about 2 hours having dinner! He was an incredibly handsome, kind, interesting, gentleman of impeccable manners. And he was actually interested in
ME! I have never been a person of few words, but that night I was!I was in a dream!
When it was time to leave he slipped me something under the table wrapped in
a cellophane cigarette wrapper. He whispered to me "Happy Birthday". I told him
I wasn't supposed to take anything from him for a gift and he said, "don't tell
anybody! Just put it in your pocket." I said I didn't have any pockets, and he
replied, "Well then put it in your bra!" So I did. :)
After he gave me a smooch on the cheek and said goodbye I lit out for the
kitchen to see what he had given me. I unwrapped the cellophane and pulled out
a piece of paper with a bit of a coffee cup wring on it and the words Hi Denise
XX Victor Mature, and a $20 dollar bill! Wow, that was a lot of money!!!
Well, I just had my 51st birthday two days ago. My Mom sent me a birthday
card and inside that card to my utter surprise was that coffee-wringed personal
note with two kisses and his autograph that he had given me that night.
I always wondered what had happened to that. Good old Mom.
So, I was here looking for a good picture to download and frame with his note.
Never really told anyone that story. First of all, who'd believe it. Second,
most people didn't really know who he was, unless they were like us. Older, old movie nuts.
Thanks for listening!
Denise

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

Was impressive, Denise! Thank you to tell.

He was noted as the best-hung actor ever.

Denise...a truly lovely story and indicative of one central truth:
Fame and fortune may embellish a life but cannot undo a personality, good (as in the case of VM...)or bad.

That's like the coolest story ever.



"WHY DIDN'T YOU STARVE FIRST?!" - Humphrey Bogart, 'Dead End' (1937)

Thank you so much, Denise. He seems to have been a down-to-earth, likable person as well as good-looking! As for his acting, there is one heart-stopping moment in The Egyptian, when he and Edmund Purdom are walking along and he stops dead to say something like, "It is bad to believe too much [like another character in the movie, Michael Wilding's Akhenaten] but it is far worse to believe too little." That and the moment in the Robe, replayed in Demetrius and the Gladiators, when he cries into the eponymous robe, go by quickly but are very moving. RIP, Mr. M.

"Isn't Chris North his grandson or something?"


Uh oh. This is how rumors start. . . ;o)

"just panties, what else do I need?"

Poseidon Adventure

Actually his roots are in Central Europe, his father came from Tirol/Austria, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy.

He was a great guy, very loveable and pretty cool ! God bless him ! :-))

That was a great story Denise. He sounded like he was a doll. I loved him. I thought he was a fine actor. He was excellent as Demetrius in "The Robe". The scene after the crucifixion, when he yells at Richard Burton for crucifying God. That was an amazing scene.

Re his heritage, I had heard that he was of Greek heritage. Whatever he was, he was great. Very handsome too.

His name is MATURI, which is as Italian as spaghetti.

I avoid every movie he's been in.

There's no accounting for taste considering you obviously have none.