The great Vincent Price was born Vincent Leonard Price Jr. 105 years ago today in St. Louis, Missouri. Here are 10 trivia tidbits from his life:
- Price and fellow horror legend Christopher Lee share a birthday (though Price was 11 years Lee’s elder). Peter Cushing was born on May 26. The frightening trio appeared in two pictures together: Scream and Scream Again (1970) and House of the Long Shadows (1983).
- Vincent Price was a gourmet chef and authored several cookbooks.
- Price’s height—he was 6′ 4″—was limiting early in his career, as directors and casting people were reluctant to use actors who were taller than their leading men.
- A diorama in Tombstone, Arizona, that tells the history of the town features recorded narration by Vincent Price.
- A lifelong art collector, Price received his bachelor’s degree in art history from Yale University and in 1951 founded an art gallery and foundation bearing his name at East Los Angeles College. The college has since built an art museum named in Price’s honor.
- Vincent Price was close friends with actress Cassandra Peterson, best known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
- As a contestant on the game show The $64,000 Question, Price won $32,000.
- Vincent Price appeared as narrator on a number of rock-era recordings, working with acts such as Alice Cooper, Michael Jackson and Deep Purple.
- Though Price cited Cary Grant as his favorite actor, the two never appeared in a picture together.
- In William Castle‘s camp classic The Tingler, Vincent Price’s character experienced the movies’ first LSD trip (all in the interest of science, mind you).
Happy birthday, Mr. Price, wherever you may be!