Vincent Price
Today is Vincent Price’s birthday…. or it used to be. He’s in a coffin somewhere… Forest Lawn?
Anyhoo, I love the suave, debonair-ness of Price…. especially in his older films. He was handsome, charming and spoke with a mysterious-ness in his voice… you knew he was up to something.
Of course, Randie agrees… she loves old monster movies (I find humor in the old silly B films and the creepy but not GROSS flicks… I hate modern horror- Blecht). They do tend to keep her up at night as she does have a wild imagination. Silly girl.
According to the Wikipedia article on him, the great man was cremated, and his ashes scattered off Point Dume in Malibu, California (confirmed elsewhere). Erm, sorry, Brig.
I’ve nosed around on YouTube, and unfortunately, I can’t find any shows or clips of a TV series Vincent did in England: Cooking Pricewise – I was surprised to learn he was a gourmet chef when I bought his recipe book some years ago 🙂 But I did find this: a rather charming tribute to him.
Oh, and Randie’s evil look in panel 3… *shudder*
We love Vincent Price. He and Boris Karloff RULE the “B” Horror Movie world! There are more than a few others who are worthy – Peter Lorrie, Lon Chaney, Peter Cushing, etc. – But if you had Vincent or Boris on the B&W Screen, it was time to snuggle up with your sweetie, share a bowl of popcorn in a darkened room and enjoy a memorable evening watching the masters.
*hehe* I love “B” Movies! And as for recent “B” Movies worth watching: I cannot recommend ZOMBIELAND highly enough. Not a real horror movie by any stretch, but neither is it a spoof on horror movies. It has its own flavor, though it has some vague similarities to AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, which is the best blend of comedy-horror ever done. Most importantly, however, is the quality cheesiness of ZOMBIELAND holds up through the entire film, providing an enjoyable movie experience.
Oh… and a terrific cheesy scifi movie purposely shot in the “B” style: The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension. I mean, good grief… the hero actually says, “Oooohh… the deuce you say.” AND PULLS IT OFF!
Vincent Price was the master! Absolutely one of the most iconic voices ever — you can hear an old radio program, and the moment he opens his mouth, you KNOW it’s VP! And he did a lot of radio back in the day.
The laugh he does at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is the greatest evil laugh ever!
I understand that The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, in which Price played Vincent Van Ghoul, will soon be available on DVD from Warner Home Video.
o/~ It was the mash o/~
“It was the monnnster mash.”
Vincent’s voice was fantastic… I’ve never searched to see if he did any radio work, but I bet he would have been amazing in that… you wouldn’t need visuals with him around.
Speaking of his voice, British comedian Enn Reitel does an excellent impersonation of him – sadly, the only video I found on YouTube was very NSFW 🙁
And, I know it’s slightly off-topic, but for Brig and fans of ICHC, vampire kitteh! RUN! 😉
Third panel: wowww, that’s pretty scary, Randie. O_O She even has the whole “touching fingertips” going on…
I liked the scary stuff. Now it is all shock and blood and gore and I don’t like that, but then I am an old dude.
Did you know it’s the birthday of Christopher Lee as well?…. too spooky.
Well, I am a little disappointed that Vinnie isn’t in a crypt somewhere… but his cremation would’ve been a good and fitting end. His final scene: heading towards the fire with a smile on his face… yeah, with that great “Thriller” laugh in the background! … and cut! (How morbid of me).
Ahem. Yah, I love Saturday Night Live’s sorta recent Vinnie spoofs. He captured Vinnie’s voice quite well. But, Pete, you’re right… snuggle up movies with popcorn…. those is the bestest thrillers! And Bo, you just happen to be in the “tasteful” camp…. shock and gore is not tasteful… just gross.
Oh, and the YouTube tribute was cool!
And Old Scoobie rocks!
He and Boris Karloff were also big in the art scene, I recall a cameo Boris did in a beach movie where the stars were having a paint fight. He said “I must tell Vincent Price about this place”
One of our favorite movies was “His Kind of Woman” with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Vincent played a non-creepy but quite weird character, with a kind of maniacal glee. You always felt he was having a ton of fun with his roles.
When I was far too young, I got to listen to Vincent Price at the Boston Museum of Science, reciting dirty limericks, with great dignity and aplomb. 🙂
I very much doubt that he realized a youngster was listening in.
The Auld Grump
Vincent Price di plenty of old-time radio! for many years, he was Simon Templar — “The Saint”.
Here’s a couple of fun links:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheSaintVincentPriceOTR
http://www.archive.org/download/VincentPrice_835/SDR_0001_64kb.mp3
http://www.archive.org/download/Intro__Voodoo_Knight/sampleten.mp3
Wow! Thanks DCS… great links! I see we have some real Vincent fans!
I will have to put “His Kind of Woman” on the Netflix….
And I am picturing a cartoon with Price and Karloff in full horror regalia discussing a painting… “It’s horrible, just disgusting… isn’t it Boris?” (looking at “The Birth of Venus” or something).
I second the thanks, DCS! I’m downloading those Saint MP3s as I write this 🙂 (and I had no idea he’d been The Saint!)
Mind you, I also didn’t know that there was the Vincent Price Art Gallery. What a guy.
YES, he was the master.
Now you’ve got to listen to his track on Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to my Nightmare”!
I met Vincent Price when I was sixteen, and he was in town to give a lecture on art at the University.
We were both walking across the campus, and conversed the whole way. I don’t even remember what we talked about, but I do remember this:
He did not speak to me as a famous, cultured art expert/actor speaking to a naive sixteen year old stranger… He spoke to me as a cultured gentleman speaking to another cultured gentleman.
The man was the definition of “class”.
Petercat… hello! And this is what I’ve heard from others who have met Mr. Price. You are one of the fortunate ones to have done so. He was, indeed, passionate about art, which is one of the reasons I admire him so. “Classy” is definitely an appropriate word to describe him.