Vincent Price
Birth: May 27, 1911
Death: October 25, 1993
If Karloff was the King of Horror, Vincent Price was the crowned prince. His name will forever be remembered with the genre, and his best pieces are already considered classics. Born in a well to do family in St. Louis, Vincent grew up with a love for fine arts. He would collect art from a young age and would try his own hand at painting, cartooning, sculpting, and singing before ever seriously attempting acting.
Price received early and easy success in acting. His acclaim on Broadway in Victoria Regina opposite Helen Hayes would bring him to Hollywood a sensation already and primed to be the next heartthrob. His career very nearly went the path of others like Leslie Howard, luckily for horror fans it went more like Karloff's instead.
In a bit of irony three or Price's first five roles dealt with supernatural or horrific plots. Tower of London with Karloff and Basil Rathbone Invisible Man Return's which he would make for of the rest of his life, and Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables, it's a wonder a horror career did not take off right there. It did not though and for nearly 15 years he would bounce around between roles and films of varying significance, usually coming in around third billing.
It was in 1953 that Price became a horror store. The movie was House of Wax and the role was Henry Jarrod, it would forever be remember as one of his greatest performances with some truly shocking scenes. The movie was cheap and gimmicky using 3-D to draw views, the result was instant and tremendous fame, Vincent Price who was already well known was now a household name, something he could claim for 40 more years.
Price's success perhaps came in that he took the quirky roles and relished them with such depth that audiences could not help but love them. Movies like House of Haunted Hill, The Mad Magician, and The Bat would have been little more than afterthoughts if it was not for Price. It was with Roger Corman and American Internation Pictures that Price would spend the 60's and part of the 70's as well. They kept the actor busy and their pocketbooks full casting him in a successful series of Edgar Allen Poe inspired films, some of which were so distant from the stories it was apparent little more than the title was inspired. Films like House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Masque of the Red Death would become fan favorites.
Price would often make films with other horror stars during this time. He would either be paird up with Peter Lorre or Karloff or both, or he might be with Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee, or both. AIP mixed horror stars in films like Universal mixed monsters. There didn't need to be good roles for everyone, just enough film time to put there names on the posters. Some of these were great films like The Raven while others wasted top talent in forgettable roles like Scream and Scream Again.
During the early 70's Price was given one of his most famous roles, The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Never before had Price been able to chew scenery so grandly and play off of so much black humor. The film was a huge success and spawned a sequel. Price was even given his own swansong of sorts from AIP when they placed him in Theater of Blood a role not too different from Price's own life about an actor who was never appreciated by critics because he would only perform in one genre.
The mid 70's started a hard time for the horror genre. Price did not fight it; he worked when there was a role he thought was fun. He was in no hurry to rid himself of the image he was famous for and was willing to wait out the slump. It allowed him even more time to pursue his love of art and writing for which he was well known, while poking fun at himself and the genre with roles like the opening monologue to Michael Jackson's Thriller and a voice on 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. It was obvious Price was nearly as famous for his voice as he was for his acting at this point and Disney capitalized on this by having him voice Ratigan in their film The Great Mouse Detective a role Price would call one of his favorites to his death.
Price would prove to the world that he was a real actor though, his role in The Whales of August in 1987 alongside Lillian Gish and Bette Davis gained him some of his best reviews in years and his last acting role under his own biggest fan director Tim Burton in Edward Scissorhands would give the actor a fitting true final bow.
Price was a man who loved the genre and loved the fans. He relished art love and life, and was a philosopher in his own right. A great actor, and missed on screens still today.
