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Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American film actor. He is best remembered for his roles in a series of low-budget horror films where his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude were well recognised. In such films, his tall stature and polished urbane manner made him something of an American counterpart to the older Boris Karloff.
Early life and career
1960s
Later career Price undertook a small part in the children's television program The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971) in Canada. His role in the show was to recite simple, silly poems about the show's various characters, sometimes wearing a cloak or other costumes. He greatly reduced his film work from around 1975, as horror itself suffered a slump, and increased his narrative and voice work. 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, and on Michael Jackson's music video Thriller from 1983. Price recorded the central spoken section in Thriller in just two takes, after it had been written by Rod Temperton in the taxi on the way to the studio for the recording session. One of his last major roles, and one of his favourites, was as the voice of Professor Ratigan in Walt Disney Pictures' The Great Mouse Detective from 1986. 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 well remembered 1972 episode of The Brady Bunch, in which he played a deranged archeologist. 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, a Tim Burton's six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price. From 1981 to 1989, he hosted the PBS television series Mystery!. 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 (see *). He also authored several cookbooks. Family Price was married three times and fathered a son, named Vincent Barrett Price, with his first wife, a former actress named Edith. Price and his second wife Mary 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. According to his daughter, Price became disillusioned with the faith after her 1991 death. He died two years later. Death Price was a lifelong smoker. He 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 at age 82, on October 25, 1993. The next night his biography The Versatile Villain, which was directed by Kerry Jensen, was aired on the Arts and Entertainment Network. The broadcast began with a note by A&E dedicating the broadcast to Vincent Price's memory. Tim Burton had been working on a documentary entitled Conversations With Vincent but shelved the project after Price's death. Legacy
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