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Quick Facts
- NAME: Vincent Price
- OCCUPATION: Film Actor
- BIRTH DATE: May 27, 1911
- DEATH DATE: October 25, 1993
- EDUCATION: Yale University, University of London
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Saint Louis, Missouri
- PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
- Full Name: Vincent Price
Best Known For
American actor Vincent Price starred as the villain in the 1953 film House of Wax, which revitalized the horror genre, and was one of the first films shot in 3D.
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Play NowVincent Price. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:12, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990.
Vincent Price. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Vincent Price." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 05:12 http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990.
"Vincent Price," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Vincent Price," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Vincent Price [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990.
Vincent Price, http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Vincent Price. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-price-9446990. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Vincent Price was born on May 27, 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri. His acting career began on stage in London in 1935. He also performed with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre. In the 1950s, Price started making horror films,
Quotes
"It's as much fun to scare as to be scared."
including House of Wax and The Fly. He later worked with Roger Corman on several films based on Edgar Allan Poe stories. Price died on October 25, 1993.
Early Life
Sometimes called the "Master of Menace," actor Vincent Price was born on May 27, 1911, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Price was the youngest of four children born to an upper-middle-class family. His father served as the president of a candy company, and he had a cultured upbringing. Price was educated in private schools, and toured Europe at the age of 16. At Yale University, Price studied art history and English. He then traveled to England to pursue the fine arts at University of London.
In 1935, Price landed his first major stage role, playing Prince Albert in a London production of Victoria Regina. The play moved to Broadway, with Helen Hayes as Price's co-star, and it became a big hit. Before long, Price made his way to the silver screen.
Film Career
Despite his lasting association with the world of horror, Price started out as a dramatic actor. His tall, lanky frame and distinctive voice lent themselves nicely to character parts. One of Price's most famous early roles was in the film noir classic Laura (1944) which was directed by Otto Preminger and also starred Gene Tierney. Two years later, he reunited with Tierney for the dramatic thriller Dragonwyck. Price also appeared in some comedies, including 1950's Champagne for Caesar—one of his favorite film roles.
Price delved into disturbing territory with the 3D hit House of Wax (1953). In the film, he plays a deranged and disfigured artist, who makes wax sculptures using real people. Price also did well with The Fly (1958), a classic science-fiction horror flim about a scientist who has a tragic mishap with a device that he created, as it turns him into a flying insect. In the 1960s, Price appeared in a number of Roger Corman's low-budget scare-fests. Price also starred in several film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories, including The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
Part of Price's appeal as a villain was the humor he could inject into these sinister roles. His distinctive voice also contributed to his ability to create tension in films. He spoke in rich, deep tones, which sometimes had an eerie and unsettling quality. Price thought nothing of his famous speech patterns. "To me, I sound like everybody else in Missouri. I think I sound like Harry Truman," he once said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
One of his most favorite later roles, Price plays an actor who gets his revenge on his critics in Theater of Blood (1973). He voiced the villainous Ratigan in the animated tale The Great Mouse Detective (1986). The following year, Price took a dramatic turn with The Whales of August, playing a Russian paramour to two sisters (Bette Davis and Lillian Gish).
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