FATHER GEEK says goodbye to VICTOR MATURE.

An all-around nice guy, a fine actor and one of Hollywood’s original “hunks” has died after a long bout with cancer. VICTOR MATURE star of 57 motion pictures since 1939 and a heart-trob to millions of women during the 1940’s and 50’s passed away in San Diego at the age of 86 and once again it falls on FATHER GEEK’s shoulders to tell you about it.

VICTOR MATURE first won the hearts of the women of America when he leaped upon the silver screen bare-chested and wearing only a faux wooly mammoth loincloth as Tumak the cave dweller in 1940’s ONE MILLION B.C. He was cast perfectly as the prehistoric hunter and lover of the mega-beautiful Carole Landis (also wearing only little bits of fur). Fighting off iguanadons left and right he built up a following of young women as surely as if he had dragged them by the hair (caveman-style) into his mountain lair, ripped off their clothes, and made passionate love to them on piles of animal skins next to a flickering fire. That hit film and the girls that flocked into the theaters to see it over and over again kept Victor in scanty clothing throughout the rest of his career.

He played alot of gladiator types, usually stripped to the waist and glistening with sweat in films like ANDROCLES AND THE LION (1952) THE ROBE (1953), DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS (1954), THE EGYPTIAN (1954), HANNIBAL (1960), and SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949). It was as the ragged, long haired Samson during a mid-50’s rerelease at San Antonio’s Aztec Movie Palace that a young FATHER GEEK would first be won over to Mature’s legend of fans. Because of his strong calamitous role, the presence of sultry Hedy Lamarr, and the kickass special effects and art direction this Cecil B. DeMille epic was my favorite childhood film... until I saw Seventh Voyage of Sinbad a couple of years later.

VICTOR MATURE played in a host of musicals too. This manly man was not above donning pink tights and leopard skin briefs to satisfy his audience. As a matter of fact it was in such a role that a grade-school aged Harry Knowles would first take notice of VICTOR MATURE. Believe it or not geeks Ain’t It Cool’s Harry was a championship swimmer years ago before his mom and I divorced. I’ve got tons of ribbons, medals,etc. to prove it too, but anyway Harry loved movies about swimming and one night MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID came on the tube and he fell in love with Esther Williams as Annette Kellerman and Victor as John Sullivan the likeable sideshow barker/con-man who rose to become a bigtime Broadway Show promoter. A little later when we got our 1st VCR Harry insisted that we record him a copy of this film for his personal tape collection. So there was the 6 year old future Editor-in-chief of AICN with his own homemade VHS copies of; Night of the Living Dead, Jeremiah Johnson, The Three Musketeers, Star Wars, and Victor’s MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID. True fact, his first 5 video tapes.

As good as his sword & sandals flicks were ol’ FATHER GEEK will remember VICTOR MATURE best for his series of 1940’s Film Noir movies. In 1941 he paired up with the lovely, but tragic Carole Landis again to make Ben Hecht’s seminal noir I WAKE UP SCREAMING. In 48 he made CRY OF THE CITY for Director Robert Siodmak. Then the legendary Jacques Tourneur matched him and Lizbeth Scott together in EASY LIVING. However, the “role” was as Nick Bianco Vs. Tommy Udo played to psychopathic killer perfection by Richard Widmark in the award winning must-see 1947 classic KISS OF DEATH. His decent, but luckless hoodlum, screwed-over by everyone and their brother, is one of the great male noir parts, unforgettable as the very definition of what is needed of a Film Noir anti-hero.

What was his absolutely best acting job? Well, FATHER GEEK would have to vote for his critical portrayal of the tubercular killer/gambler/gentleman in John Ford’s epic award winning noir western, 1946’s MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. One of the best westerns ever to come out of Hollywood the film was packed with stars and Victor stands out in the in the company of Henry Fonda, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Tim Holt and all the others. As the despondent, reckless drinking, wracked with coughs, doomed gunslinger Doc Holiday, Mature is nothing short of phenomenal. The scene where he desperately tries to pull himself together inorder to save Linda Darnell’s life by operating on her as she lays shot on a poker table in his saloon is gut-wrenching and fantastic, but my favorite moment of the motion picture occurs when the touring Shakespearean actor is unable to finish Hamlet in the rambunctious bar turned theater and Doc (Mature) rises to his feet and delivers perfectly Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. You could hear a pin drop in the theater, both on screen and off.

Working in the era of 5 & 6 figure superstar salaries, not today’s 8 figure paydays, VICTOR MATURE managed to earn $18,000,000 during his acting career, he made several great investments and by the age of 46 he was for all practical purposes retired to the life of a Southern California patrician gourmet. A widely circulated quote of his from the mid-80’s states: “There’s alot to be said for loafing, if... you know how to do it gracefully.”

Bon Appetite, Victor, Bon Appetite!