Movie Hunk and Stage Actor Victor Mature is Dead at 86

In Vittorio de Sica's After The Fox , he portrayed a wrinkle-conscious ham actor on the skids, in sunglasses, trenchcoat, and slouch hat from the s; and in Bob Rafelson's Head , billed as the Big Victor, he suffered the surreal indignity of having the Monkees playing dandruff in his greasy hair. Although his large girth, hooded eyes and solemn basso voice often teetered on the absurd - appropriately, he was asked to play the father of Sylvester Stallone in the s - when he was given meaty, rather than beefy, roles, and got the chance to work with good directors, Victor Mature was no joke. Here is an educated character, able to prompt a Shakespearean actor stumbling through a soliloquy, who has wasted a promising life. There's not a vestige of him left. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of a scissors grinder, Mature had no education beyond the age of 14, having been expelled from most of the schools he attended.