Comments on The Film Snob: Vincent Price scholar (and good friend) David Del ...

For Texas Yankee-Here is my response to the last o...

2007-10-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

For Texas Yankee-

Here is my response to the last onsite email regarding Vincent and
comedy:

Vincent loved making COMEDY OF TERRORS not only for the joy of being
with his old Universal co-stars from TOWER OF LONDON 1939 as well as his
good friend Peter Lorre. While he enjoyed himself on the shoot the end
result was not a success and AIP quickly dropped the notion of anymore
horror comedies which is a shame because the next one THE GRAVESIDE
STORY would have reunited all of them plus Tallulah Bankhead!!

Vincent Price was indeed a great comic actor just look at his work over
at RKO with Jane Russell and Robert Mitchem HIS KIND OF WOMAN
Vincent steals the show as the ego crazed actor who becomes a reluctant
hero at the films climax. Another of his favorite films was CHAMPAGNE
FOR CAESAR where he got to work with his idol Ronald Colman...his
performance as the mad Soap tycoon was a classic comedy performance.

During my on camera interview Vincent reminded me that he had done
hundreds of television shows over the years with all the great comics of
his generation so while we tend to think of him as the horror star he was
also one of the great kings of comedy as well

Hi Texas YankeeI will check with David about your ...

2007-10-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Texas Yankee
I will check with David about your questions-thanks for your interest-
best

mark
film snob weekly

Hi Axel Daivd emailed me about your question and h...

2007-10-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Axel
Daivd emailed me about your question and here is his response

"As much as Vincent embraced his "Horror" image he did regret not having
the time to perform the more important roles in theater like King
Lear for example which he should have done at a certain age but sadly
could not afford to do as they did not remotely pay what feature films did.
By the time he was ready and certainly had the talent for Shakesphere
he had become to set in his ways as a film actor and to set in the
public mindset as MR. Monster.

His marriage to Coral Browne a consummate stage actress changed his
life in more ways than one. She told him to take up theater immediately
and stop making Horror films as they had buried his talent with camp and
low budgets. He took the chance and starred opposite his new wife in a
West End comedy that did not do well and it brought him great
depression, at this point a miracle was needed

As luck would have it the miracle arrived in the guise of Ireland's
greatest wit and poet Oscar Wilde. Vincent Price resurrected not only his
reputation but his confidence in his talent . Those of us that have
always known what a great actor were not surprised in the least. "

The one film of Mr Vincent Price's that I enjoyed ...

2007-10-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

The one film of Mr Vincent Price's that I enjoyed the most was "Comedy of Terrors". It certainly had all of the greats from the horror film world such as, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone. I seemed to feel that Mr Price was throughly enjoying himself in the movie and really had a flare for comedy. Other than making movies where the comedy came from poking fun at his image ie: The Beach Party movies he really did not make many comedies. Did he ever voice a desire to try more comedy?

I heard the public domain recording of Three Skele...

2007-10-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

I heard the public domain recording of Three Skeleton Key and it's one of the best horror programs I've heard. Parts of it are like what later Romero did with 'Dawn of the Dead', and Price' s performance is GOLD.

To answer Axel-I think David would say no-Clearly,...

2007-10-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

To answer Axel-

I think David would say no-Clearly, Price's horro performances were too full of joy and commitment to sense any kind of bitterness or stigma-Indeed, as David recounts, Price and Christopher Lee shared the same birthday (May 27) and on this day Price would send Lee a birthday telegram which said 'To the Prince of Horror from the King'
hardly the gesture of someone stimagtize by typecasting
m

I've seen this Vincent Price / Red Skelton episode...

2007-10-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

I've seen this Vincent Price / Red Skelton episode available on many bargin dollar dvds... the episode is public domain so alot of companies have it for sale just about everywhere.

Did Price ever feel stigmatized by his horror role...

2007-10-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Did Price ever feel stigmatized by his horror roles?

Hi, David mentioned that he had not seen this epis...

2007-10-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hi, David mentioned that he had not seen this episode since it aired-He did mention that there seems to be a slow, but consistent effort to get the Skelton show on DVD-Thanks much for your question
m

Your interview talked about seeing Vincent Price w...

2007-10-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Your interview talked about seeing Vincent Price with Boris Karloff on the Red Skelton Show. Where did you see this episode and is it possible to get a copy?