Samson and Delilah

 "Cecil B. DeMille, the producer-director of 'Samson and Delilah' (1949), always saw all of Hollywood to find the best people for his spectaculars. So when I got the call, I wasn't all that anxious to come in for the interview from Laguna, where I was living then. I thought, 'Well he's seeing everyone and now it's my turn.' Meeting him in his office at Paramount, I found that he had an extensive knowledge of my entire career - that's how thorough he was. When the interview lasted four hours, I knew I was in. While we were talking he mentioned that he was having difficulty casting another important role, the Saran of Gaza. After he described the character to me I said, 'It's got to be George Sanders.' And he not only signed me to play Samson, but George Sanders to play the Saran of Gaza."

"One time, (DeMille) came up to me and said, 'Victor, my boy. We're ready to do the scene where you fight the lion. We have a real lion, but he's very tame, a very sweet old lion. His name is Jackie. When you fight him, I'd like you to put your head in his mouth. Now don't worry; nothing can happen - Jackie has no teeth.' I said, 'Mr. DeMille, I don't even want to be gummed!' I did not do the stunt. No way! Not if there were six people holding Jackie by the tail!"

Despite his physique and his tough guy persona, Victor Mature was a man of many fears and phobias. Not only did he refuse to wrestle a tame movie lion for "Samson and Delilah"--a film that Groucho Marx famously said he would not go to see because "the leading man's t*ts are bigger than the leading lady's"--but during the jawbone battle, the wind machine kicked up some particularly violent gusts, and Mature fled the sound stage for his dressing room, hiding in terror. According to Cecil B. DeMille biographer Charles Higham, the director publicly humiliated him, using his megaphone to ensure that cast and crew all heard him.

DeMille: "I have met a few men in my time. Some have been afraid of heights, some have been afraid of water, some have been afraid of fire, some have been afraid of closed places. Some have even been afraid of open spaces--or themselves. But in all my thirty-five years of picture-making, Mr. Mature, I have not met a man who was 100 percent yellow."

Mature attributed his success in Biblical spectacles to his ability to "make with the holy look."

Applying for membership in the swank Los Angeles Country Club at the height of his fame, Mature was turned down and told that the golfing facility did not accept actors as members. His response: "I'm not an actor - and I've got 64 films to prove it!"