Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price II was born on May 27, 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied art history at Yale University and the University of London. Price became a noted art connoisseur and collector and was at one point the art-buying consultant of Sears, Roebuck & Company.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED61331F935A15753C1A965958260

Price was married three times. He had a son, Vincent Barrett Price, with his first wife actress Edith Barrett (1938-1948). His daughter, Mary Victoria Price, was born out of his second marriage to author Mary Grant (1949-1972). Price's third marriage to actress Coral Browne (1974-1991) ended with her passing.

Price died in Los Angeles on October 25, 1993 from lung cancer.

Vincent Price began his career on the London stage and continued theater work throughout his career. Following his role in the film House of Wax, Price helped start a revival of the horror genre, starring as a number of villains in Roger Corman's films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED61331F935A15753C1A965958260 One of Price's favorite film roles was that in Theatre of Blood of a deranged actor who kills his critics in ways inspired by Shakespeare.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED61331F935A15753C1A965958260

Price was also a published author. He co-wrote three cookbooks with his second wife: A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965), A National Treasury of Cookery (1967) and Come Into the Kitchen Cook Book (1969).http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?participantId=155292|151397 He wrote introductions to a number of publications on fine art. He also spoke of his appreciation for art in his autobiography, I Like What I Know (1959).http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED61331F935A15753C1A965958260

• 1935: Stage debut in Chicago (Gate Theatre, Dublin)
• 1935-37: Broadway debut as Prince Consort in Victoria Regina
• 1938: Film debut, Service de Luxe
• 1940: The Invisible Man Returns
• 1943: The Song of Bernadette
• 1944: The Keys of the Kingdom
• 1945: Leave Her to Heaven
• 1946: Dragonwyck
• 1948: The Three Musketeers
• 1947-1950: Radio series The Saint
• 1953: House of Wax
• 1957: The Ten Commandments
• 1958: The Fly
• 1959: The Return of the Fly
• 1959: House on Haunted Hill
• 1960: House of Usher
• 1961: The Pit and the Pendulum
• 1962: Poe's Tales of Terror
• 1962: The Raven
• 1962: The Tower of London
• 1965: The Tomb of Ligeia
• 1967: The House of 1000 Dolls
• 1968: Broadway musical debut, Darling of the Day
• 1973: Theatre of Blood
• 1977-78: Tour of one-man play about Oscar Wilde, Diversions and Delights
• 1979-1983: Hosted PBS series, Mystery!
• 1987: Last major film role, Mr. Maranov, The Whale's of August
• 1990: Last film appearance, Edward Scissorhands
• 1993: Final TV appearance, The Heart of Justice

• In the last year, 1991, I was given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association a career achievement award, and I really didn't think that I deserved it on the basis of my films...Half of this award was given to me because of my involvement with the arts, the other arts.http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/price92.htm
• One time I was [in England] doing a film with [Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing] and I thought it would be kind of fun to have a party. So I looked around for a place and I found a marvelous place was the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tusaud's. And we had a birthday party there. It was wonderful fun. You couldn't tell who were the actors.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGnWgxmHZk