100 Years of Vincent
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 8:30PM 
Andreas here. Today marks the centenary of horror icon Vincent Price, whose prolific seven-decade career also included forays into comedy, film noir, and historical drama. Price holds a special place in many a film fan's heart, whether for his spine-chilling voice— put to excellent legendary use by Quincy Jones for Michael Jackson's Thriller— or the aristocratic aura he brought to countless cheap William Castle and Roger Corman horror movies. Price could even elevate a project as inherently undignified as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine with his camp greatness.
He could capably play science-minded everymen, as he did in The Tingler and The Last Man on Earth (taking on the mantle later carried by Will Smith in I Am Legend), but the really fun Price parts are his hammy madmen. He sought gruesome vengeance in the 3-D House of Wax, twice in the '70s as the scarred Dr. Phibes, and most delightfully as a pissed-off thespian in Theatre of Blood.
There, he systematically murders all the theater critics in London by reenacting Shakespeare, and occasionally altering the texts to suit his own whims. (In his version of Titus Andronicus, for example, Queen Tamora is Robert Morley, getting fed his own poodles.) While filming Theatre of Blood, Price also met his second wife, Coral Browne. In the film itself, he electrocutes her while pretending to be a hairstylist wearing a giant afro wig.
Price never really slowed down: he was in his seventies when he voiced one of the greatest Disney villains of all time, The Great Mouse Detective's Ratigan. In 1982, he was the subject of Tim Burton's Vincent, a stop-motion animated tribute to his cinematic legacy. "For a boy his age, he's considerate and nice," says the short film's voiceover, read by Price himself, "but he wants to be just like Vincent Price." Truth be told, who doesn't?
What's your favorite Vincent Price memory?
10|25|50|75|100, Tim Burton, Vincent Price
Reader Comments (9)
All the horror films were fun, but one of my favourites was "Champagne for Caesar". Price is delightfully odd as a soap manufacturer who sponsors an early television quiz show. When Ronald Colman wins and wins and wins Price becomes more manic and devious. It is a real laugh.
My favorite Vincent Price will always be Edward Scissorhands. It's one of those roles that just had to be filled by a legendary presence that the audience felt warmly about going in, in order to resonate at is fullest. And the actor but also had to fit perfectly in its cartoon goth mansion / fairytale setting. One of Burton's most brilliant strokes.
John Landis didn't put Vincent Price to use for Thriller - that would be Quincy Jones, who brought him in to record on the album.
jessica -- excellent point. i edited the post.
lee brown -- i'm glad that Andreas covered this because more and more i'm feeling like i don't know enough about vincent price's career (probably because i skipped the horror gene) that sounds intriguing.
My dad made me watch "House on Haunted Hill" when I was 7. I remember being afraid of falling into a vat of hot wax for many years after.
jessica -- thanks for the correction! I didn't know much about the back story so that's very helpful.
Lee Brown -- I've never heard of Champagne for Caesar, but it sounds pretty incredible. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
I liked him in "Laura" the classic mystery with the exquisite Gene Tierney. He plays Laura's no-good fiancee, a southern gentleman sponger. He uses a kind of unctuous self-serving charm that you can see would be an excellent basis for the self-justifications in a horror film. And for nightmares for kids, "The Masque of the Red Death" shows that Edgar Alan Poe can be unforgettably creepy.
Laura trailer on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2162754585/
Vincent Price and Hubert Humphrey have the same birthday in the same year. Both were born 100 years ago. A curious coincidence, no doubt. Sorta like Adams and Jefferson dying on the same day, July 4, 1826, 50 years after the Declaration of Independence.
Tomb of Ligeia! It's so beautifully shot, and there are those great scenes with Vincent Price stalking around in his Victorian sunglasses. Also, "unctuous self-serving charm" describes exactly what qualities made all of his performances great.