Early film roles '' (1941–1942) Price started out in films as a
character actor. He made his film debut in
Service de Luxe (1938), and established himself in the film
Laura (1944), opposite
Gene Tierney, directed by
Otto Preminger. He played
Joseph Smith in the movie
Brigham Young (1940) and
William Gibbs McAdoo in
Wilson (1944), as well as Bernadette's prosecutor, Vital Dutour, in
The Song of Bernadette (1943), and as a pretentious priest in
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944). Price's first venture into the horror genre, for which he later became widely known, was in the
Boris Karloff film
Tower of London (1939). The following year, Price portrayed the title character in
The Invisible Man Returns (a role he reprised in a voice-only cameo in the closing scene of the horror-comedy spoof
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein released in 1948). He reunited with Tierney in
Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and
Dragonwyck (1946). He also had many villainous roles in
film noir thrillers such as
The Web (1947),
The Long Night (1947), ''
Rogues' Regiment (1948), and The Bribe'' (1949), with
Robert Taylor,
Ava Gardner, and
Charles Laughton. Price's first starring role was as
con man James Reavis in the biographical film
The Baron of Arizona (1950). He did a comedic turn as the tycoon Burnbridge Waters, co-starring with
Ronald Colman in
Champagne for Caesar (also 1950), one of his favorite film roles.
1950s Price was active in radio, portraying the
Robin Hood-inspired crime-fighter
Simon Templar in
The Saint, which ran from 1947 to 1951. In the 1950s, Price moved into more regular horror-film roles with the leading role in
House of Wax (1953) as a homicidal sculptor, the first
three-dimensional film to land in the year's top 10 at the North American box-office. His next roles were
The Mad Magician (1954), the monster movie
The Fly (1958), and its sequel
Return of the Fly (1959). That same year, Price starred in two thrillers by producer-director
William Castle:
House on Haunted Hill as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren, and
The Tingler as Dr. Warren Chapin, who discovered the titular creature. He appeared in the radio drama
Three Skeleton Key, the story of an island lighthouse besieged by an army of rats. He had first performed the work in 1950 on
Escape and returned to it in 1956 and 1958 for
Suspense. Outside the horror realm, Price played Baka in
The Ten Commandments, released in 1956. About this time, he also appeared in episodes of television shows such as
Science Fiction Theatre,
Playhouse 90, and
General Electric Theater. In the 1955–56 television season, he was cast three times on the religion anthology series
Crossroads. In the 1955 episode "Cleanup", Price portrayed the Reverend Robert Russell. In 1956, he was cast as
Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas in "The Rebel", and as the Rev. Alfred W. Price in "God's Healing".
1960s In the 1960s, Price achieved a number of low-budget filmmaking successes with
Roger Corman and
American International Pictures (AIP) starting with the
House of Usher (1960), which earned over $2 million at the box office in the United States and led to the subsequent
Edgar Allan Poe adaptations of
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), He starred in
The Last Man on Earth (1964), the first adaptation of the
Richard Matheson novel
I Am Legend, and later starred as Felix Manderville in
House of 1,000 Dolls (1967), which has been described as "quite possibly the sleaziest movie AIP ever made". A year later, Price portrayed witch hunter
Matthew Hopkins in
Witchfinder General, (US:
The Conqueror Worm, 1968) set during the
English Civil War. Price also starred in comedy films such as
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and its sequel
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966). In 1968, he played the part of an eccentric artist in the musical
Darling of the Day, opposite
Patricia Routledge. In the 1960s, Price began his role as a guest on the television game show
Hollywood Squares, becoming a semi-regular in the 1970s, including being one of the guest panelists on the finale in 1980. Price made many guest-star appearances in television shows during the decade, including
The Red Skelton Show,
Daniel Boone,
F Troop,
Get Smart,
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He had a recurring role in the
Batman TV series as the villain
Egghead from 1966 to 1967. In 1964, he provided the narration for the Tombstone Historama in
Tombstone, Arizona, which was still in operation as of 2016. He also starred as the host of the Australian TV series
If These Walls Could Speak, in which a short history of an historical building (supposedly narrated by the building itself) was covered, and as the narrating voice of the building.
1970s During the early 1970s, Price hosted and starred in
BBC Radio's horror and mystery series
The Price of Fear. He accepted a cameo part in the Canadian children's television program
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971) in
Hamilton, Ontario, on the local television station
CHCH-TV, filming all of his 400 segments over the course of only a few days. In addition to the opening and closing monologs, his role in the show was to recite poems about various characters, sometimes wearing a cloak or other costumes. He appeared in
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), its sequel
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), and
Theatre of Blood (1973), in which he portrayed one of two
serial killers. That same year, he appeared as himself in
Mooch Goes to Hollywood, a film written by
Jim Backus. Price was an admirer of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 1975 visited the
Edgar Allan Poe Museum in
Richmond, Virginia, where he had his picture taken with the museum's popular stuffed raven. Price also recorded dramatic readings of Poe's short stories and poems, which were collected together with readings by
Basil Rathbone. In 1975, Price and his wife
Coral Browne appeared together in an international stage adaptation of
Ardèle, which played in the U.S. and in London at the
Queen's Theatre. During this run, Browne and Price starred together in the BBC Radio play
Night of the Wolf first airing in 1975. Price greatly reduced his film work from around 1975, as horror itself suffered a slump, and he increased his narrative and voice work, as well as advertising
Milton Bradley's Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture. Price provided a monolog for the
Alice Cooper song "The Black Widow" on the
Welcome to My Nightmare album in 1975, and he appeared in the corresponding TV special
Alice Cooper: The Nightmare. He starred for a year in the early 1970s in the syndicated daily radio program
Tales of the Unexplained. He made guest appearances in a 1970 episode of ''
Here's Lucy'', showcasing his art expertise, and in a 1972 episode of ABC's
The Brady Bunch, in which he played a deranged
archaeologist. In October 1976, he appeared as the featured guest in an episode of
The Muppet Show. In 1977, Price recorded a cover version of
Bobby "Boris" Pickett's 1962 Single record
The Monster Mash produced by UK record producers Ken Burgess and Bob Newby and released in the UK by
EMI Records. Also in 1977, Price began performing as
Oscar Wilde in the one-man stage play
Diversions and Delights, written by John Gay and directed by Joe Hardy, and set in a Parisian theater on a night about one year before Wilde's death. The original tour of the play was a success in every city except for New York City. In the summer of 1979, Price performed the role of Wilde at the
Tabor Opera House in
Leadville, Colorado, on the same stage from which Wilde had spoken to miners about art some 96 years before. He eventually performed the play worldwide. During 1979–1980, he hosted the "Mystery Night" segment of the radio series
Sears Radio Theater.
Later career In 1982, Price provided the narrator's voice in
Vincent, Tim Burton's six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price. That same year, Price provided the spoken-word sequence throughout the
Michael Jackson song "
Thriller", and appeared as Sir Despard Murgatroyd in a television production of
Gilbert and Sullivan's
Ruddigore (with
Keith Michell as Robin Oakapple). In 1983, he played the Sinister Man in the British spoof horror film
Bloodbath at the House of Death. He appeared in
House of the Long Shadows with
Christopher Lee,
Peter Cushing, and
John Carradine; he had worked with each of those actors at least once in previous decades, but this was the first time that all had teamed up. One of his last major roles, and one of his favorites, was as the voice of Professor Ratigan in
Walt Disney Pictures'
The Great Mouse Detective in 1986. From 1981 to 1989, Price hosted the
PBS television series
Mystery! In 1985, he provided voice talent on the Hanna-Barbera series
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo as the mysterious "Vincent Van Ghoul", who aided Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and the gang in recapturing thirteen demons. He was a lifelong fan of roller coasters, and he narrated a 1987 thirty-minute documentary on the history of roller coasters and amusement parks, including
Coney Island. During this time (1985–1989), he appeared in horror-themed commercials for
Tilex bathroom cleanser. In 1984, Price appeared in
Shelley Duvall's live-action series
Faerie Tale Theatre as the Mirror in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and the narrator for "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers". In 1987, he starred with
Bette Davis,
Lillian Gish, and
Ann Sothern in
The Whales of August, a story of two sisters living in
Maine facing the end of their days. His performance in
The Whales of August earned an
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. In 1989, Price was inducted into the
St. Louis Walk of Fame. His last significant film work was as the inventor in Tim Burton's
Edward Scissorhands (1990). In 1990, Price recorded the narration of the Phantom for the
Phantom Manor attraction at
Disneyland Paris. However, shortly after the ride opened in 1992, the narration was removed and replaced with one entirely in French, performed by Gérard Chevalier. Only Price's infamous laughter remained on the soundtrack. In 2018, during a major renovation, it was announced that parts of Price's narration would be restored. Since the 2019 reopening, the new tracks are dual-language; Price's original excerpts as well as previously unused material from his 1990 recording comprise the English-speaking portions, while actor
Bernard Alane voices the Phantom in French. ==Art==