October 03, 2011

Voice Actor - Vincent Price

Known first as a film actor, writer, and gourmet, but he was also a voice actor. Vincent Price was born in St Louis, Missouri. He traveled through Europe, studied at Yale and became an actor. He made his screen debut in 1938, and after many minor roles, he began to perform in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953), achieving his first major success with House of Usher (1960). Known for his distinctive, low-pitched, creaky, atmospheric voice and his quizzical, mock-serious facial expressions, he went on to star in a series of acclaimed Gothic horror movies, such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).

What most people don't know is that Tim Burton's very first film Vincent, has Vincent Price as the narrator's voice. It's a short 1982 stopmotion film about a boy named Young Vincent Malloy who dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams which annoys his mother. 

This began a long relationship between him and Tim Burton.  His role in Edward Scissorhands (1990) was intended to be much larger, but since Price was very ill from emphysema and Parkinson's disease he was only able to appear in two scenes.

And of course, who can forget is unforgettable voice in Michael Jackson's Thriller song.

Other voice credits:

13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, The (1985, Animated Series) Vincent Van Ghoul
CBS Radio Workshop, The (1956, Radio Series) Narrator/Himself
Saint John
Critic, The (1994, Animated Series) Judge
Escape (1947, Radio Series) Roger
Great Mouse Detective, The (1986, Animated Film) Professor Ratigan
Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible, The (1986, Animated Series (Direct-to-Video)) King Herod
Haunted Mansion, The (1969, Attraction) Narrator
Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971, Stop Motion Animated TV Special) January Q. Irontail
I Go Pogo (1980, Stop-Motion Animated Film) Deacon Mushrat
Little Troll Prince, The (1987, Animated Special) King Ulvik
Tiny Toon Adventures (1990, Animated Series) Narrator (Edgar Allan Poe)
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (1949, Radio Series) Vincent Price

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