VINCENT PRICE

'Vincent Leonard Price Jr.' (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American film actor. He is remembered for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of distinctive horror films, his tall 6' 4" (1.93 m) stature and polished urbane manner made him something of an American counterpart to the older Boris Karloff.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

1960s

Later career

Family

Death

Legacy

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life and career

Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Vincent Leonard Price and Marguerite Willcox. His father was president of the National Candy Company. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price invented "Dr. Price's Baking Powder", the first cream of tartar baking powder, and secured the family's fortune.^[1] Vincent Jr. attended St. Louis Country Day School. He was further educated at Yale in art history and fine art. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and the Courtauld Institute, London. He became interested in theater in the 1930s, appearing professionally on stage from 1935.
He made his film debut in 1938 with ''Service de Luxe'' and established himself as a competent actor, notably in ''Laura'' (1944), opposite Gene Tierney, directed by Otto Preminger. He also played Joseph Smith, Jr. in the movie ''Brigham Young'' (1940). During the 1940s, he appeared in a wide variety of films from straight-forward drama to comedy to horror (he provided the voice of The Invisible Man at the end of ''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' in 1948). In 1946 he reunited with Gene Tierney in two notable films ''Dragonwyck'' and ''Leave Her to Heaven''. He was also active in radio, portraying the Robin Hood-inspired crime-fighter Simon Templar, aka. ''The Saint'', in a series that ran from 1947 to 1951.
In the 1950s, he moved into horror films, with a role in ''House of Wax'' (1953), the first 3-D film to land in the year's top ten at the North American box office, and then the monster movie ''The Fly'' (1958).
Price also starred in the original ''House on Haunted Hill'' (1959) as the eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. (Geoffrey Rush, playing the same character in the 1999 remake, was not only made to resemble Price, but was also renamed ''Steven Price''.)

1960s

In the 1960s, he had a number of low-budget successes with Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP) including the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations ''House of Usher'' (1960), ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' (1961), ''Tales of Terror'' (1962), ''The Raven'' (1963), ''The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964) and ''The Tomb of Ligeia'' (1965).
These were followed by numerous other roles throughout the 1960s in which he played characters in horror films who were often closely modeled on the Corman Poe films. In 1968 he played the part of an eccentric artist in the musical ''Darling of the Day'' opposite Patricia Routledge, displaying an adequate if untrained singing voice.
He often spoke of his pleasure at playing "Egghead" on the Batman television series. Another of his co-stars, Yvonne Craig (Batgirl), often said Price was her favorite co-star.
In an often-repeated anecdote from the set of ''Batman'', Price, after a take was printed, started throwing eggs at series stars Adam West and Burt Ward, and when asked to stop replied, ''"With a full artillery? Not a chance!"'', causing an eggfight to erupt on the soundstage. This incident is reenacted in the behind-the-scenes telefilm ''.

Later career

Price accepted a cameo part in the children's television program ''The Hilarious House of Frightenstein'' (1971) in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, on a local station. In addition to the opening and closing monologues, his role in the show was to recite poems about the show's various characters, sometimes wearing a cloak or other costumes. CH TV Hamilton History He has also appeared in ''The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971) and ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973), in which he created a series of campy, tongue-in-cheek villains. Price also recorded dramatic readings of Poe's short stories and poems, which were collected together with readings by Basil Rathbone.
He greatly reduced his film work from around 1975, as horror itself suffered a slump, and increased his narrative and voice work, as well as advertising Milton Bradley's Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture. Price's voiceover is heard on Alice Cooper's first solo album, ''Welcome to My Nightmare'' from 1975, as well as the TV special entitled Alice Cooper-The Nightmare. He also starred for a year in the early 1970s in a syndicated daily radio program, ''Tales of the Unexplained''. He also made a guest appearance in a 1972 episode of ''The Brady Bunch'', in which he played a deranged archaeologist.
In the summer of 1977, he began performing as Oscar Wilde, in the one man stage play ''Diversions and Delights''. Written by John Gay and directed by Joe Hardy, the play is set in a Parisian theatre on a night about one year before Wilde's death. In an attempt to earn some much-needed money, he speaks to the audience about his life, his works and, in the second act, about his love for Bosie, Lord Alfred Douglas, which led to his downfall.
The original tour of the play was a success in every city that it played, except for New York City. In the summer of 1979, Price performed it at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado on the same stage that Wilde had spoken to the miners about art some 96 years before. Price would eventually perform the play worldwide and to many, including his daughter Victoria, it was the best acting that he ever did.
In 1982, Price provided the narrator's voice in ''Vincent'', Tim Burton's six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price. That same year, he performed a sinister "rap" on the title track of Michael Jackson's monumental "Thriller" album. In addition to the album being a mega-seller, the video was a huge hit for MTV. It included a stunning sequence in which Jackson transforms into a werewolf and was a major landmark for music videos. One of his last major roles, and one of his favorites, was as the voice of Professor Ratigan in Walt Disney Pictures' ''The Great Mouse Detective'' from 1986.
From 1981 to 1989, he hosted the PBS television series ''Mystery!''. Also, in 1985, he was voice talent on the Hanna-Barbera series ''The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo'' as the mysterious Vincent Van Ghoul who aided Scooby-Doo and the gang in capturing thirteen evil demons into an ancient chest. His last significant film work was as the inventor in Tim Burton's ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990).
A witty raconteur, Price was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's ''Tonight Show,'' where he once demonstrated how to poach a fish in a dishwasher. He also was a frequent panelist on Hollywood Squares during its initial run.
Price was also a noted gourmet cook and art collector. From 1962 to 1971, Sears, Roebuck offered the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, selling about 50,000 pieces of fine art to the general public. Price selected and commissioned works for the collection, including works by Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí.^[2] He also authored several cookbooks.

Family

Price was married three times and fathered a son, named Vincent Barrett Price, with his first wife, former actress Edith Barrett. Price and his second wife Mary Grant donated hundreds of works of art and a large amount of money to East Los Angeles College in the early 1960s in order to endow the Vincent and Mary Price Gallery there. Their daughter, Victoria, was born in 1962.
Price's last marriage was to the Australian actress Coral Browne, who appeared with him (as one of his victims) in ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973). He converted to Catholicism to marry her, and she became a US citizen for him.

Death

Price was a lifelong smoker. Price had long suffered from emphysema and Parkinson's disease, which had forced his role in ''Edward Scissorhands'' to be much smaller than intended.
His illness also contributed to his retirement from ''Mystery'', as his condition was becoming noticeable on-screen. He died of lung cancer on October 25, 1993. The Arts & Entertainment Network aired an episode of Biography highlighting Price's horror career the next night, but because of its failure to clear copyrights, the show was never aired again. Four years later, A&E produced its updated episode, a show titled '', which aired on October 12, 1997; it is often rebroadcast and is available on DVD. The script was by Lucy Chase Williams, author of ''The Complete Films of Vincent Price'' (Citadel Press, 1995). In early 1991, Tim Burton was developing a personal documentary with the working title ''Conversations With Vincent'' (footage of the director interviewing Price was shot at the Vincent Price Gallery) but the project was never completed and eventually was shelved.

Legacy

★ Price was an Honorary Board Member and strong supporter of the Witch's Dungeon Movie Museum located in Bristol, Connecticut until his death. The museum features detailed life-size wax replicas of characters from some of Price's films, including ''The Fly'', ''The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' and ''The Masque of the Red Death'' (see [1]).

★ A black box theater at Price's alma mater, St. Louis Country Day School, is named after him.

★ Vincent Twice was a Price lookalike character on ''Sesame Street''.

★ He was parodied in an episode of ''The Simpsons'' ("Sunday, Cruddy Sunday").

★ Price even had his own ''Spitting Image'' puppet, who was always trying to be "sinister" and lure people into his ghoulish traps, only for his victims to point out all the obvious flaws.

★ In 1989, Vincent Price was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

★ Director Tim Burton directed a short stop-motion film as a tribute to Vincent Price called ''Vincent'', about a young boy named Vincent Malloy who was obsessed with the grim and macabre.

★ In 1999, a frank and detailed biography of Vincent Price, written by his daughter Victoria Price, was published by St Martin's Griffin Press.

★ Starting in November 2005, featured cast member Bill Hader of the NBC sketch comedy/variety show ''Saturday Night Live'' has played Price in a recurring sketch where Vincent Price hosts botched holiday specials filled with celebrities of the late 1950s-early 1960s. Other cast members who have played Price on SNL include "Not Ready For Primetime" castmember Dan Aykroyd and one-season castmember Michael McKean (who played Vincent Price when he hosted a season 10 episode and again when he was hired as a castmember for the 1994-1995 season).

★ The October 2005 Episode of the Channel 101 series Yacht Rock featured comedian James Adomian as Vincent Price during the recording of Thriller.

★ In 1951, impressed by the spirit of the students and the community's need for the opportunity to experience original art works firsthard, Price donated some 90 pieces from his own collection to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California, thus establishing the first "teaching art collection" owned by a community college in the U.S. Today, the Vincent Price Art Gallery continues to present world-class exhibitions, and remains one of the actor's most enduring legacies. The superb collection contains over 2,000 pieces and has been valued in excess of five million dollars. (On exhibit at The Vincent Price Gallery on the ELAC campus for free. Mon-Thu 12:00pm-3:00pm behind the F-5 Building)

★ Wednesday 13 wrote a song entitled ''The Ghost of Vincent Price''.

★ Horror Punk band The Misfits wrote "Return of the Fly" mentioning Price, along with the character he played and the characters wife

★ During the early 70's Price hosted BBC Radio's mystery program "The Price of Fear"

Filmography

★ ''Service de Luxe'' (1938) ★ ''The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'' (1939) ★ ''Tower of London'' (1939) ★ ''The Invisible Man Returns'' (1940) ★ ''Green Hell'' (1940) ★ ''The House of the Seven Gables'' (1940) ★ ''Brigham Young - Frontiersman'' (1940) ★ ''Hudson's Bay'' (1941) ★ ''The Song of Bernadette'' (1943) ★ ''The Eve of St. Mark'' (1944) ★ ''Wilson'' (1944) ★ ''Laura'' (1944) ★ ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944) ★ ''A Royal Scandal'' (1945) ★ ''Leave Her to Heaven'' (1945) ★ ''Shock'' (1946) ★ ''Dragonwyck'' (1946) ★ ''The Web'' (1947) ★ ''The Long Night'' (1947) ★ ''Moss Rose'' (1947) ★ ''Up in Central Park'' (1948) ★ ''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' (1948) (voice only) ★ ''Rogues' Regiment'' (1948) ★ ''The Three Musketeers'' (1948) ★ ''The Bribe'' (1949) ★ ''Bagdad'' (1949) ★ ''The Baron of Arizona'' (1950) ★ ''Champagne for Caesar'' (1950) ★ ''Curtain Call at Cactus Creek'' (1950) ★ ''Notes on the Port of St. Francis'' (1951) (short subject) (narrator) ★ ''Adventures of Captain Fabian'' (1951) ★ ''His Kind of Woman'' (1951) ★ '' (1951) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''The Las Vegas Story'' (1952) ★ ''Water, Water Every Hare'' (1952) ★ ''House of Wax'' (1953) ★ ''Crucifixion'' (1953) (short subject) (narrator) ★ ''Dangerous Mission'' (1954) ★ ''Casanova's Big Night'' (1954) (Cameo as Casanova) ★ ''The Mad Magician'' (1954) ★ '' (1955) (short subject) ★ ''Son of Sinbad'' (1955) ★ ''Serenade'' (1956) ★ ''While the City Sleeps'' (1956) ★ ''The Vagabond King'' (1956) (narrator) ★ ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956) ★ ''Eight Steps to Peace'' (1957) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''The Story of Mankind'' (1957) ★ ''The Fly'' (1958) ★ ''House on Haunted Hill'' (1959) ★ ''The Big Circus'' (1959) ★ ''The Tingler'' (1959) ★ ''Return of the Fly'' (1959) ★ ''The Bat'' (1959) ★ ''House of Usher'' (1960) ★ ''Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile'' (1961) ★ ''Rage of the Buccaneers'' (1961) ★ ''Master of the World'' (1961) ★ ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' (1961) ★ ''Naked Terror'' (1961) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''Confessions of an Opium Eater'' (1962) ★ ''Tales of Terror'' (1962)

★ ''Convicts 4'' (1962) ★ ''Tower of London'' (1962) ★ ''Taboos of the World'' (1963) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''The Raven'' (1963) ★ ''Diary of a Madman'' (1963) ★ ''Beach Party'' (1963) ★ ''The Haunted Palace'' (1963) ★ ''Twice-Told Tales'' (1963) ★ ''The Comedy of Terrors'' (1964) ★ ''The Last Man on Earth'' (1964) ★ ''The Masque of the Red Death '' (1964) ★ ''Chagall'' (1964) (short subject) (narrator) ★ ''The Tomb of Ligeia'' (1965) ★ ''War-Gods of the Deep'' (1965) ★ ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine'' (1965) ★ ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs'' (1966) ★ ''The Jackals'' (1967) ★ ''The House of 1,000 Dolls'' (1967) ★ ''Spirits of the Dead'' (1968) (narrator in English version) ★ ''Witchfinder General'' (1968) (AKA: ''The Conqueror Worm'') ★ ''More Dead Than Alive'' (1968) ★ ''Scream and Scream Again'' (1969) ★ ''The Oblong Box'' (1969) ★ ''The Trouble with Girls'' (1969) ★ ''Cry of the Banshee'' (1970) ★ ''Mooch Goes to Hollywood'' (1971) (Cameo) ★ ''The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971) ★ ''The Beginning of the End of the World'' (1971) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''The Hilarious House of Frightenstein'' (1971) (Canadian Television) (cameo: narrator/host) ★ ''Here Comes Peter Cottontail'' (1971) (voice) ★ ''An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe'' (Television - 1972) (narrator) ★ ''Dr. Phibes Rises Again'' (1972) ★ ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973) ★ ''It's Not the Size That Counts aka Percy's Progress'' (1974) ★ ''Madhouse'' (1974) ★ ''The Devil's Triangle'' (1974) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''Journey Into Fear'' (1975) ★ '' (Television -1975) (cameo) ★ ''The Butterfly Ball'' (1976) (voice) ★ ''Days of Fury'' (1978) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''Scavenger Hunt'' (1979) ★ ''Time Express'' (1979) ★ ''The Monster Club'' (1980) ★ ''' (1980) (voice) ★ ''Vincent'' (1982) (short subject) (voice) ★ ''House of the Long Shadows'' (1983) ★ ''Bloodbath at the House of Death'' (1984) ★ ''Dracula, the Great Undead'' (1985) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo'' (1985) (Television - voice) ★ ''The Nativity'' (1986) (short subject) (voice) ★ ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (1986) (voice) ★ ''Escapes'' (1986) ★ ''Sparky's Magic Piano'' (short) 1987 ★ ''The Whales of August'' (1987) ★ ''The Offspring'' (1987) ★ ''Dead Heat'' (1988) ★ ''Don't Scream It's Only a Movie'' (1989) (documentary) (narrator) ★ ''America Screams'' (Television - 1990) ★ ''Catchfire'' (1990) ★ ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990) ★ ''The Thief and the Cobbler'' (1995) (voice) (audio was recorded in 1973)

References

1. Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography, Victoria Price,, , , St. Martin's Griffin, ,
2. http://www.searsarchives.com/history/art/

3. Lucy Chase Williams: ''The Complete Films of Vincent Price''. New York. Citadel Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8065-1600-3

External links

★

★

★ Vincent Price Gallery

★ Find-A-Grave profile for Vincent Price

★ St. Louis Walk of Fame

★ Price's daughter discussing his legacy

★ The Vincent Price Exhibit

★ Vincent Price performs "Three Skeleton Key" on ''Escape'' (1950)

★ Profile @ Turner Classic Movies