Vincent Price - An American Actor, Art Historian, Art Collector And Gourmet Cook

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Despite working in a variety of genres, American actor Vincent Price is most remembered for his roles in horror movies. He appeared in more than 100 movies, as well as in theater, television, and radio. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one each for television and motion pictures.

Quick Facts About Vincent Price

Name	Vincent Price
Date of Birth and death	May 27, 1911 - Oct 25, 1993
Gender	Male
Nationality	United States of America
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.93 m)
Profession	Actor, Voice Actor, Radio personality, Presenter, Writer, Chef
Place of Birth	St. Louis

Early Life Of Vincent Price

The youngest of Vincent Leonard Price Sr.'s children and Marguerite Cob (née Wilcox) was Vincent Price, president of the National Candy Company, Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 27, 1911. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, created the first baking powder based on the cream of tartar, "Dr. Price Baking Powder," which made the family rich.

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Vincent Price was of English ancestry and a direct descendant of Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower at Provincetown Harbor and was the first white kid to be born in Colonial Massachusetts. Price also has some Welsh heritage.

Vincent Price went to Milford Academy and St. Louis Country Day School in Milford, Connecticut. He went to Yale University and worked for the student humor publication The Yale Record before graduating in 1933 with a degree in English and a minor in art history.

He began studying for a master's degree in fine arts at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London after a year of teaching. Instead, he found himself pulled to the stage, making his debut in 1934. In 1935, he made his acting debut in London with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre.

Vincent Price Career

After performing in theater for the first time in 1934, Price launched his acting career in London by appearing in Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. He later made an appearance in "Victoria Regina." As a character actor in the film "Service de Luxe," Price's Hollywood career officially began in the year 1938. But "Laura" is the song that gave him his reputation in the business.

In 1939, he made his debut in the horror film genre by acting in Boris Karloff's "Tower of London." The Invisible Man Returns, a horror science fiction movie, featured him in the title role the following year.

Price produced a number of character-driven films in 1944, including "Wilson," an American historical film about President Woodrow Wilson, and "The Keys of the Kingdom," which was adapted from a book of the same name.

In the years that followed, Price made an effort to take on more challenging characters, some of which were even antagonistic. Examples include the films Dragonwyck (1946), Leave Her to Heaven (1946), The Web (1947), The Long Night (1947), The Bribe (1949), etc. In the movie "The Baron of Arizona," he had his first significant role in 1950.

Additionally, that year saw the debut of his first American comedy, "Champagne for Caesar," a movie about a radio game show. The Mad Magician (1954), The Fly (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), and many more noteworthy horror films were produced by Price in the 1950s, including "House of Wax" (1953), the first 3-D horror picture in American cinema history, "The Fly," "The Fly," and "House on Haunted Hill."

He was given a number of lucrative parts in the horror genre in the 1960s because of his reputation as a horror movie actor, including those in "House of Usher," "Tales of Terror," "The Tomb of Ligeria," "Witchfinder General," etc.

Price made a successful foray into radio in the 1970s with the slasher program "The Price of Fear" on BBC Radio. His radio presentation had a certain edge because of his unusual voice. More works include Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), Theatre of Blood (1973), and others.

Price's career in horror films abruptly declined starting in 1975, when the horror film business was experiencing difficulties. He focused on projects including narration and voice acting. In the one-man stage play "Diversions and Delights," in which he performed the part of "Oscar Wilde," he made a comeback to the stage in 1977.

It is said that he performed the play all over the globe, and it was his finest performance to date. Price had a big narrating role in Tim Burton's "Vincent" in 1982. It was a tale about a little child who enters a realm of imagination and assumes the identity of "Vincent Price." He also performed a monologue for the Michael Jackson song "Thriller."

He participated in the 1982 television adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore." He portrayed "Sir Despard Murgatroyd" in the drama. Bloodbath at the House of Death, a British horror parody film, was produced around the same period.

He served as the presenter of the PBS television program "Mystery!" from 1981 until 1989. He provided the voiceovers for "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" (1985) and Disney's "The Mouse Detective" (1986) at the same time.

Tim Burton's romantic dark fantasy "Edward Scissorhands," in which he starred with Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder as the creator of "Edward Scissorhands," was his final noteworthy project.

Vincent Price Shot From A Movie Scene

Vincent Price's Personal Life

Price has been married three times. His first marriage, to former actress Edith Barrett, ended in divorce in 1948. During their 1938 union, Vincent Barrett Price, a poet, and journalist were born. After being married to Mary Grant in 1949, Price gave birth to a daughter on April 27, 1962, whom they named Victoria Price after Price's first big hit, the play Victoria Regina.

The union lasted until 1973. Coral Browne, an Australian actress who portrayed one of his victims in Theatre of Blood, was married to him in 1974. The couple was together until she passed away in 1991.

A Daughter's Biography (1999), written by his daughter, describes Price's early anti-Semitism and first adoration for Adolf Hitler. His daughter claims that when he visited Germany and Austria as a young man, he was deeply affected by the events of the Weimar Republic and the fall of the empire.

He was thus caught up in the notion that Hitler would restore German dignity when he came to power, rather than perceiving him as a potentially hazardous force. However, after making friends with New York intellectuals like Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman in the 1930s, Price turned liberal.

As a result, in the 1950s, he was "greylisted" under McCarthyism for being a "premature anti-Nazi" and, after a year of being jobless, he consented to the FBI's requests that he sign a "secret oath" in order to save his career.

Some Interesting Facts About Vincent Price

The first cream of tartar baking powder, Dr. Price's Baking Powder, was created by his grandfather.
From 1974 through 1991, he was married to Coral Browne, his third wife.
Vincent and Mary were the names of his two children.
On October 25, 1993, Vincent Price passed away at the age of 82.
He was born on May 27, 1911.
Gemini is his sun sign.
He gave a spoken-word rendition of "Thriller," a 1982 Michael Jackson song.
Price was an avid art collector as well as a fantastic gourmet chef. He is the author of several acclaimed cookbooks and even had his own cooking program, "Cooking Pricewise."
In order to build the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College, he and his second wife contributed hundreds of pieces of art as well as a sizable sum of money.
He presented the hour-long television show "America Screams," riding on several of the roller coasters and recounting their histories since he was renowned for his passion for roller coasters and amusement parks.