Horror on Film, part 3: A New Horror Icon

There are few famous people I revere as much as the late, great Vincent Price. Mr. Price was more than just an actor. He was an art collector, a great cook, iconic personality and philanthropist. His voice is as famous as his distinctive face (nice portrait on deviantart.com.). Of the famous people, living and dead, I would choose to meet, Vincent Price would be in the top five. A cursory glance at Vincent Price's resume on IMDB.com indicates that Mr. Price participated in 185 films and television series, voice or otherwise, over a period of more than fifty years. He became famous for portraying villainous characters, particular in horror films. Price could be sinister, deft and swank, often at the same moment.

Mr. Price began his career as an actor in 1938. It was in Laura (1944) that he began attracting the attention of filmmakers. By this point, however, Price had already forayed into horror with Tower of London (1939), The Invisible Man Returns (1940) and House of the Seven Gables (1940).  Mr. Price would spend the rest of the forties playing mostly in film noirs (another genre your host passionately loves).

In the 1950's, Vincent Price became the horror icon he is known as today. His first signature role in a horror film came in 1953, when the played the lead in House of Wax. The film, according to wikipedia, was the first 3-D film to crack the year's top ten in the North American box office. That aside, House of Wax is an exceptional film, one of my favorites, and stands up well today. Price plays a gentle wax museum curator, who, after his partner double crosses him, delivering horrific burns, turns to the evil--and decides to create wax exhibits of a different kind.

Later in the decade, Price played in The Fly (1958) and House on Haunted Hill (1959), both excellent horror films which would be remade decades after the originals. His role in Haunted Hill is particularly notable, as he plays an amiable and eccentric millionaire with a cavalier attitude toward others.

In the 1960's, Price did a lot of work with producer/director Roger Corman, starring in a number of films based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe:  House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Comedy of Terrors (1963) The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) andThe Tomb of Ligeia (1965). All are excellent films, well worth seeing. I particularly like Usher, Raven and Comedy of Terror, the latter the black comedy pairing of Price and Peter Lorre.

In 1964, Price played the lead in The Last Man on Earth, which is based on Richard Matheson's influential novel, "I Am Legend." This film is notable for a number of reasons. For one thing, Price stepped out of his comfort zone and played the hero. Secondly, Legend was a huge influence for George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968)--as was Last Man on Earth.

In 1968, Price played one of my favorite roles of his, as the lead in Witchfinder General. Though Price was always charismatic on screen, even in villainous roles--I thank you, Mr. Price, for my deep admiration for villains--the character he portrays in Witchfinder is one of the nastiest I've ever seen on film. There is just nothing redeeming about him, which I still think is great (we can't sympathize with all villains). It also shows a lot of range to portray a person so deeply cold and nasty (no doubt the concordant opposite to Vincent Price's true nature). Witchfinder, for its time, ruffled a lot of feathers.

The seventies saw two more of his great, villainous roles in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and The Theater of Blood (1973). Both are fun, creative horror films, the former about a man, scarred by an accident, who takes revenge on the doctors he blames for his wife's death. In Theater, Price plays a shunned stage actor who takes revenge on his critics. Horror having dried up in the seventies, Price shifted his focus to television, radio and the stage.

In 1982, Price did a voice part in Michael Jackson's Thriller. A year later, he starred with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine in House of the Long Shadows. It was the first time all four horror legends had appeared together in the same film (Price had worked with each of the men separately in the past). By 1992, Price's failing health, the result of smoking and Parkinson's disease, restricted his role in Edward Scissorhands to a minor part (definitely not director Tim Burton's original intention). In 1993, Vincent Price died of lung cancer.

Price was a graduate of Yale, a major in art history. He was an art collector over the years, and contributed a number of works to a college in California. He was also a gourmet chef, authoring several cookbooks.

Above all, Price was a legend in horror. He transcended horror, and in the sixties and seventies, became a true celebrity. Has there ever been, or will there ever be a more poignant presence in the horror genre? Probably not. A lot of greats have come and gone, but Price accomplished more in his career than anyone else in the history of horror film. Really, you should see every film mentioned. If you haven't already.