The Sardonic Master Vincent Price

The Yale educated son of a wealthy St. Louis family Vincent Price will always be remembered for being creepy. In real life the man was charming, funny and rather elegant but he knew how to make your skin crawl on film. Price played a wide variety of characters in his multitude of films but it is his role in the horror genre where he stands out. His first real horror film was 1939's "Tower of London" followed by the title role in "The Invisible Man Returns". He was cast as villains in noir films through out the 1940's and 1950's. By the mid to late 50's Mr. Price was the king of horror films. His films included "House of Wax", "The Fly", and "The House on Haunted Hill" He worked with the famed horror-thriller director William Castle known as much for his gimmicks as he was for his films.
Price was also very funny and many of his roles were comic as well as creepy. He was cast in the mid-60's as Egghead on TV's camp classic "Batman" as well as a series of silly films including "Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine" and "Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs". He became a true household name when he was part of the cast of "Hollywood Squares" where he was able to display his quick wit and sardonic humor.

Both Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson used Price's voice in their music classics "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "Thriller". It was during this time he was recording classic Poe stories and doing a BBC Radio's horror series "The Price of Fear". He turned to the stage in the 70's performing as Oscar Wilde in the play "Diversions and Delights". It is considered one of the best performances of his life. He continued working through out the 70's and 80's making guest appearances on television and acting as host for 8 years on PBS's series "Mystery".
Vincent Price was also an art collector and gourmet cook. His art collection was enormous and is now housed in The Vincent Price Museum in East Los Angeles.
The last significant film Price made was Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands". He was ill during the shooting of the film and his schedule had to be curtailed due to his health issues. During this time he was working with Burton on a documentary to be titled "Conversations With Vincent" that has never been released.
Vincent Price died on October 25, 1993. He was 82 years old.