Biography for
Vincent Price (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

27 May 1911, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Date of Death

25 October 1993, Los Angeles, California, USA (lung cancer and emphysema)

Birth Name

Vincent Leonard Price Jr.

Nickname

King of the Grand Guignol
Bink
Merchant of menace
Renaissance Man

Height

6' 4" (1.93 m)

Mini Biography

Actor, writer, and gourmet, Vincent Price was born in St Louis, Missouri. He traveled through Europe, studied at Yale and became an actor. He made his screen debut in 1938, and after many minor roles, he began to perform in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953), achieving his first major success with House of Usher (1960). Known for his distinctive, low-pitched, creaky, atmospheric voice and his quizzical, mock-serious facial expressions, he went on to star in a series of acclaimed Gothic horror movies, such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).

He abandoned films in the mid-1970s, going on to present cooking programs for television - he wrote "A Treasury of Great Recipes" (1965) with his second wife, Mary Grant - but had two final roles in The Whales of August (1987) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). He also recorded many Gothic horror short stories for the spoken-word label Caedmon Records.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Lester A Dinerstein <lester1@earthlink.net>

Spouse

Coral Browne	(24 October 1974 - 29 May 1991) (her death)
Mary Grant	(25 August 1949 - 15 August 1973) (divorced) 1 child
Edith Barrett	(23 April 1938 - 4 June 1948) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Often played in horror films with a sense of black humour

Playing an anti-hero who wants revenge on those who wronged him

Frequently played villains who died screaming

Distinctive low-pitched voice and atmospheric narration

Often played imposing, menacing villains

Pencil thin mustache

Trivia

Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (27th May) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th.

An avid gourmet chef, he wrote a number of cookbooks.

Was notoriously superstitious. He once joked that he kept a horseshoe, a crucifix and a mezzuza on his front door.

Shortly before his death, he said that one of his most favorite roles was the voice of Professor Ratigan in the Disney feature The Great Mouse Detective (1986), especially since two original songs had been written for him.

Son, Vincent Barret Price, born in 1940.

Had his own mail-order book club in the 1970s, "Vincent Price Books," specializing in mystery and detective novels.

He was the Wednesday night host for CBS Radio's "Sears Mystery Theater" (1979). He was still Wednesday's host when it became "The Mutual Radio Theater" on Mutual Radio (1980).

Host of BBC Radio's "The Price of Fear" (1973-1975, 1983).

His ashes were scattered off the Californian coast of Malibu together with his favorite gardening hat.

Started an egg-throwing fight while making a guest spot as the villain Egghead on the 1960s TV series "Batman" (1966).

Although always a gentleman, he was considered an eccentric and often engaged in over-the-top theatrics while discussing his favorite subjects, cooking and poetry.

In 1964, at the request of a personal friend, he narrated a brief history of Tombstone, Arizona (titled, "Tombstone, The Town Too Tough To Die"), for use in the diorama at the site of the O.K. Corral gunfight. He reportedly recorded the 20-minute piece in a single take at a recording studio in Hollywood, and when asked about his fee, asked for his pal, the owner of the exhibit at the time, to buy him lunch. Price never visited Tombstone but his narration is still used in the diorama.

Made a short speech about the black widow on Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" album.

Attended the St. Louis, Missouri private high school, Country Day.

Appeared in several movies with "house" in the title -- most of them horror movies -- including The House of the Seven Gables (1940), House of Wax (1953), House on Haunted Hill (1959), House of Usher (1960), House of 1,000 Dolls (1967), "The Hilarious House of Frightenstein" (1971), and Madhouse (1974).

He received a degree in art history from Yale and wrote a syndicated art column in the 1960s. An avid art collector, he founded the Vincent Price Gallery on the campus of East Los Angeles College and encouraged others to develop a personal passion for art.

He often expressed an interest in doing Shakespeare, which is why Theater of Blood (1973) was one of his favorite roles.

Charlton Heston starred in The Omega Man (1971) and Will Smith starred in _I Am Legend, the remakes of Price's The Last Man on Earth (1964). Prior to this, Heston and Price worked together in The Ten Commandments (1956).

He starred in "How to Make a Movie," a short film that was included in the "Vincent Price: Moviemaking the Hollywood Way," a home movie outfit sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Price's second wife, Mary Grant, gave birth to daughter Victoria Price in 1962.

He was a longtime member of St. Victor's, and his wife Coral Browne was buried there with a Mozart Requiem Mass accompanied by a full orchestra.

He attended the opening night of the first production of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

Provided quasi-"rap" voiceover for Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983) (TV).

Close friend of Cassandra Peterson, the actress whose most famous "character" is Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

In 1951, Price founded the Vincent Price Gallery and Art Foundation on the campus of the East Los Angeles Community College. It is celebrating its 45th year.

In the 1960s, Price and Peter Lorre starred as crimefighting antique dealers in the unsold pilot, "Collector's Item."

Played "the spirit of the nightmare" in Alice Cooper's 1975 television special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare (1975) (TV).

In 1990, Price was hired by Walt Disney Imagineering to voice the role of the Phantom for "Phantom Manor," a new ride for the upcoming Euro Disneyland, scheduled to open in 1992. He was given a French script, but the takes were so bad, the entire performance was deemed unusable. After working on the French script for over three hours, Craig Fleming, who adapted the script and directed the recording sessions, gave him an English version of the script. Price recorded the entire piece in two takes. The English recordings were placed in the attraction, but after a few months of operation, Euro Disney (the company that owns and operates the resort) felt there was not enough French in Euro Disneyland. So by 1993, in an attempt to add more French to the park, Price's narration was removed from the attraction and replaced by the French spiel, this time recorded by Gérard Chevalier. Price's narration can be found on a Disney Haunted Mansion CD. The CD, which contains a full ride-through of the attraction, claims Price's narration was "never used at Disneyland Paris," but that's because the park was still called Euro Disneyland when it was used. Today the park is now known as Parc Disneyland (as of 2002) and, although his narration is long gone, one part of his performance remains in Phantom Manor: his laugh. Although the spoken dialog of the Phantom character was changed, Price's original recordings of the Phantom's evil laughter still remain intact, inside the attraction.

According to Price, when he and Peter Lorre went to view Bela Lugosi's body at Lugosi's funeral, Lorre, upon seeing Lugosi dressed in his famous Dracula cape, quipped, "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?"

Was a member of the family that started the company that makes Magic Baking Powder.

He would often attend showings of his films in costumes; often to play pranks on movie-goers.

At times he struggled to get parts early in his career due to his 6' 4" frame, as producers often avoid casting actors who are much taller than their leading men.

Converted to Catholicism shortly after marrying Coral Browne, a Roman Catholic. According to Price's daughter, the Australian-born Browne then became an American citizen for him.

His role in Edward Scissorhands (1990) was intended to be much larger, but since Price was very ill from emphysema and Parkinson's disease he was only able to appear in two scenes.

Price voted for Republican candidate Wendell Willkie in the 1940 presidential election, since both his parents were conservatives. Shortly thereafter, his political views altered completely, and he later became one of the most active liberal Democrats in Hollywood.

Played the devil in The Story of Mankind (1957).

Won $32,000 in an appearance on the game show "The $64,000 Question" (1955).

Is remembered by some Canadians for his narration on "The Hilarious House of Frightenstein" (1971).

A transcript of an on-stage Q&A with Price (from a 1990s Fangoria convention) appears in Tom Weaver's book "Attack of the Monster Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1994).

His likeness appeared on such Milton Bradley games as "Hangman" and "Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture" in the 1970s.

Vincent once told the story of a middle-aged woman who came up to him while on a flight to Barcelona for a fantasy film festival. She was quite excited and said, "Oh Sir, could I have your autograph? I can't tell you how many years I have enjoyed your films Mr. Karloff". Always the perfect gentlemen Vincent brought Boris back to life to give the woman an autograph fifteen years after he died.

Personal Quotes

Someone called actors "sculptors in snow". Very apt. In the end, it's all nothing.

I don't play monsters. I play men besieged by fate and out for revenge.

"Gotchic" is just a word recalling a multitude of sins!

[Tim Burton's Vincent (1982)] was immortality - better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

A man who limits his interests limits his life.

A lot of the recent actresses look and act like my niece. Now, she's a good girl, but I wouldn't pay to see her.

I sometimes feel that I'm impersonating the dark unconscious of the whole human race. I know this sounds sick, but I love it.

Doing a religious picture is a boring thing because everybody is on their best behavior - hoping for the keys to the kingdom, I guess.

What's important about an actor is his acting, not his life.

I hate being old and ill! Don't get old if you can avoid it!

The wonderful thing about Hawaii is, there, it doesn't take any words at all to say "I love you." You can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.

The horror thriller offers the serious actor unique opportunities to test his ability to make the unbelievable believable.

Salary

Return of the Fly (1959)

$25,000