Vincent Price Biography
Actor, writer, and gourmet, 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, achieving his first major success with
The Fall of the House of Usher. 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
The Pit and the Pendulum and
The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
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 he had two last roles in
The Whales of August and
Edward Scissorhands. He also recorded many Gothic horror short stories for the spoken-word label Caedmon Records.
Trivia

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

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
Basil - The Great Mouse Detective, 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 attended the opening night of the first production of
Richard O'Brien's "The Rocky Horror Show".

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).

Portrayed Simon Templar on "The Saint" for CBS Radio (1947-1948), Mutual Radio (1948-1950) and NBC Radio (1950-1951).

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.

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/II)_ .

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 site. 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.

Often appeared in movies with 'house' in the title - most of them being horror movies - such as
The House of the Seven Gables,
House of Wax and
House on Haunted Hill.

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 was one of his favorite roles.
Charlton Heston starred in
The Omega Man, the remake of Price's
The Last Man on Earth. Prior to this, Heston and Price worked together in
The Ten Commandments.

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 Show".

Provided quasi-"rap" voiceover for
Michael Jackson's
Thriller.

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.

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.
Source provided by imdb (Copyright) - The Internet Movie Database.