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Vincent Price

Vincent Price

Charlton Heston starred in The Omega Man (1971) and Will Smith starred in _I Am Legend, the remakes of Price's The Last Man on Earth (1964). Prior to this, Heston and Price worked together in The Ten Commandments (1956).

A transcript of an on-stage Q&A with Price (from a 1990s Fangoria convention) appears in Tom Weaver's book "Attack of the Monster Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1994).

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?"

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.

An avid gourmet chef, he wrote a number of cookbooks.



Appeared in several movies with "house" in the title -- most of them horror movies -- including The House of the Seven Gables (1940), House of Wax (1953), House on Haunted Hill (1959), House of Usher (1960), House of 1,000 Dolls (1967), "The Hilarious House of Frightenstein" (1971), and Madhouse (1974).

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.

Attended the St. Louis, Missouri private high school, Country Day.

Close friend of Cassandra Peterson, the actress whose most famous "character" is Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

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.

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 Picture Show (1975).

He often expressed an interest in doing Shakespeare, which is why Theatre of Blood (1973) was one of his favorite roles.

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 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.

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 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).

He would often attend showings of his films in costumes; often to play pranks on movie-goers.

His ashes were scattered off the Californian coast of Malibu together with his favorite gardening hat.

His likeness appeared on such Milton Bradley games as "Hangman" and "Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture" in the 1970s.

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