No one conjures up the spirit of classic horror cinema quite like Vincent Price.
With his unmistakable voice, diabolical laugh, and imposing presence, this iconic actor has terrified
generations of film fans over the years. Here are some essential facts about the man himself.
While most kids his age were saving their pennies for bikes or toys, the precocious Vincent Price
had his eye on a different prize – an original etching by Rembrandt. The twelve-year-old Vincent
made a down payment of $5 on the piece, titled Two Nude Models, One Standing, and spent an entire
year saving his allowance, working summer jobs, and running errands to earn the money to purchase
it. After that, Price became hooked on fine art — and vowed to become a great art collector.
After graduating from Yale in 1933, Price traveled to London to attend the Courtauld Institute of
Art, where he intended to pursue a master's degree in fine arts. However, he would be distracted by a
newfound love — the theater. Although Price would end up becoming a professional actor rather than
an art historian, Price pursued and promoted fine art and art education throughout his life.
Noting a lack of opportunity for inner-city students, Price donated a portion of his personal
art collection to East Los Angeles College in 1957, leading to the foundation of the Vincent
Price Art Museum. In the decades since, the museum has grown to house over 9,000 works of art
and seven galleries. In 1962, the actor partnered with Sears and Roebuck department stores for The
Vincent Price Collection. Handpicked by Price himself, this collection of original paintings
and reproductions brought the finest of art within reach of everyday consumers.
Growing up in a wealthy, Protestant family in St. Louis, Missouri, the young Vincent Price adopted
the conservative and often latently anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic views that were all too
common in the first half of the 20th century. These attitudes, combined with her father's
admiration for German culture, eventually led Price to express a degree of admiration for Adolf
Hitler prior to World War II. In 1999, Price's daughter Victoria told the Florida Sun Sentinel:
"When he went to Germany and Austria as a young man he was struck by a lot of things going on
during the Weimar Republic and the dissolution of the empire. So when Hitler came into power,
instead of seeing him as a dangerous force,
he was sort of swept up in this whole idea that Hitler was going to bring German pride back."
However, Price would come to emphatically renounce these views
soon after. Questioning his own beliefs as well as the politics of his parents,
Price became an outspoken enemy of fascism. Running with a crowd of noted intellectuals,
including such luminaries as Lillian Helman and Dorothy Parker, helped transform Price into an
outspoken advocate for racial and religious equality. In Price's own words, by 1938,
he "came to his senses" and became a "rabid Rooseveltian." Nonetheless, his early beliefs
were a source of serious embarrassment for the actor, who kept them secret for his entire life.
Although his name has become virtually synonymous with the genre,
horror movies made up a minority of Vincent Price's work. In fact,
fewer than a third of the more than 100 movies he featured in were horror films.
Price began his career in film with the 1938 romantic comedy Service de Luxe.
For his second film, Price took on the role of English courtier and explorer Sir Walter
Raleigh in 1939's The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Throughout the late 1930s and '40s,
Vincent Price co-starred in a number of historical dramas and literary adaptations.
Although he would star as the new Invisible Man in Universal's 1940 sequel The Invisible Man Returns,
it wasn't until 1953 that Price appeared in his signature horror role, in the classic flick House
of Wax. Even then, Price's reputation as a master of horror didn't crystallize until the 1960s.
Even at the height of his horror career, Price made plenty of appearances outside of the genre.
Just three years after House of Wax, he took on the role of Egyptian master builder
Baka [BAH-kuh] in the Biblical epic The Ten Commandments. He also lent his voice to several
animated films and television projects, including his unforgettable turn as the
criminal mastermind Ratigan in Disney's 1986 feature The Great Mouse Detective.
Vincent Price's appetites extended far beyond art and acting.
A gourmet chef and true lover of food, Price and his second wife Mary Grant traveled the world
collecting and collating recipes. In 1965, the couple published their first cookbook,
A Treasury of Great Recipes. Becoming an instant bestseller, the book quickly
became a favorite of both professional chefs and home cooks. Despite going out of print,
A Treasury of Great Recipes was reissued for its 50th anniversary in 2015, thanks to the efforts
of the actor's daughter, Victoria Price. Speaking about her father, Price explained:
"He had an omnivorous appetite for life and for food."
However, it would be wrong to think of Vincent Price as a food snob. Price's tastes,
as reflected in A Treasury of Great Recipes, ran the gamut from rich and complex dishes
from the world's finest restaurants to his beloved ballpark hot dogs.
Then, in 1971, Price brought his culinary skills to British television with Cooking Price-Wise.
Produced by Thames Television, the six-part series featured Price preparing meals from
around the world with a cupboard of easily obtainable ingredients.
A companion book of recipes also followed the show's broadcast.
Although Vincent Price will be forever remembered by '80s kids for his unforgettable "rap" and
ominous laugh on Michael Jackson's smash hit "Thriller," his work on the best-selling album
was far from his only foray into music and youth culture. Already beloved by the drive-in set
because of his roles in American International's Edgar Allan Poe films, Price made a brief but
memorable appearance in the studio's 1963 musical romp Beach Party as Big Daddy,
the zenned-out owner of a surfer hangout. Price enjoyed his popularity with young fans,
and Beach Party greatly increased his visibility among teens.
The next decade would find Price voicing the Curator on the song "The Black Widow"
from Alice Cooper's 1975 solo record Welcome to My Nightmare. Price is in fine form on the cut, going
from amiable museum tour guide to crazed maniac as he expresses his admiration for the deadly spider.
Following the album's release, Price appeared in an expanded role in the TV special Alice Cooper:
The Nightmare as "The Spirit of the Nightmare." The same year, Price joined hard rockers Deep
Purple as narrator for their rock opera The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast.
Deep Purple would pay tribute to the late horror star in 2013 with their single
"Vincent Price." Other bands to honor Price in song include punk pioneers the Misfits with 1978's
"Return of the Fly" and ZZ Top with "Vincent Price Blues" from their 1996 album Rhythmeen.
Strangely enough, the role Vincent Price considered his greatest triumph wasn't in
the horror genre. It wasn't even in a film. No, it seems that Price was on stage for his finest hour.
By the late 1970s, Price, still a highly visible presence with guest roles on TV,
commercials, and in horror films, had grown restless.
Although he was as popular as ever, he felt that his standing as an actor had declined.
So, in 1976, Price landed the role that would truly demonstrate his ability as an actor.
Diversions and Delights, written by screenwriter John Gay, presented Price with the greatest
challenge of his career. A one-man show, the play is built on the premise that a destitute
Oscar Wilde, fresh from prison, has taken on the task of lecturing to make some quick cash.
Price was at first reluctant to undertake a role as complex as that of Wilde, but his third wife,
actress Coral Browne, knew he was the man for the job, and with her encouragement,
he took the role. The production premiered in San Francisco in 1977
to rave reviews from both audiences and the press. Channeling Wilde's famous flamboyance,
Price inhabited the role totally, bringing both humor and pathos to the production.
Following a successful run in San Francisco, Price took the show on
the road with successful and often held over runs in major cities across the world,
winning plenty of praise — and hordes of new fans — along the way.
Vincent Price had a fondness for Native American art and culture that transcended his interest as
a collector of artifacts. Price's love of Native art, combined with his star power,
made him a powerful ally to the Native arts community, leading to his appointment
to the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board in 1957.
Eventually serving as chairman of the five-member council, Price was charged with the operation of
two museums dedicated to Native American art, and aided in developing policies to promote
the economic welfare of Native peoples through traditional arts and crafts.
In a 2014 interview conducted by the Santa Fe Reporter,
Ryan Flahive, archivist at the Institute of American Indian Arts, explained how Price's
advocacy and support continue to influence Native art and education. Flahive explained:
"He was known as an art connoisseur for most of his life. He was also a very
outspoken critic of federal policy concerning minorities Native people in particular."
The horror star was particularly taken with the IAIA's talented writing students. On his
first visit to the school located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he established the "Vincent Price
Awards in Creative Writing," a stipend for students of prose and poetry. Flahive says:
"In my mind, the awards set a precedent and foundation for
the strong creative writing program at IAIA. [...] I'm not sure creative
writing would have been as successful at IAIA without Price's early support."
Rumors regarding Vincent Price's sexuality have run rampant for decades. In a 2015 interview with
Boom, Price's daughter Victoria confirmed what many had intuited about her father. She said:
"I am as close to certain as I can be that my dad had physically intimate relationships with men.
I know for 100 percent fact that my dad was completely loving and supportive of LGBT people."
When Victoria Price came out to her father,
he compassionately responded with support and empathy, telling her:
"You know, I know just how you feel, because I have had these deep,
loving relationships with men in my life and all my wives were jealous."
Vincent Price's earliest public support of the LGBTQ community came in the 1970s,
when he publicly denounced singer Anita Bryant's notorious
anti-gay crusade. While touring with Diversions and Delights,
the actor quipped that Wilde had already written a play about her: A Woman of No Importance.
Price also served as an honorary board member of the LGBTQ advocacy organization PFLAG,
and was one of the first celebrities to appear in public service announcements
to help alleviate public fears about AIDS.
Vincent Price's daughter, Mary Victoria Price, was born on April 27th, 1962. The child of Price and
his second wife, costume designer Mary Grant, Victoria Price is a noted designer, author,
educator, and inspirational speaker. In 1999, she wrote the definitive biography of her father,
Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography. Facing a period of personal crisis,
Price abandoned her former life to pursue a path of spiritual growth. In 2016,
she entered a period of intentional homelessness, during which she traversed the country gathering
material for her inspirational book, The Way of Being Lost: A Roadtrip to My Truest Self.
Price maintains her father's legacy through the official Vincent Price website,
and has been instrumental in the reissuing of her father's writing, including the cookbooks
he co-wrote with Mary Grant. A favorite on the horror convention circuit, Victoria Price is,
ironically, not a fan of horror movies but is a self-proclaimed "fan of horror fans."
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