As I indicated at the outset, I intend to use these Oscar profiles to not only throw a spotlight on past winners and nominees, but performers and directors who should have had at least one nomination in their long careers, but didn’t. Who better to start with than the urbane, witty actor, gourmet and artist, Vincent Price?

I had thought of starting with Maureen O’Hara, quite possibly the greatest living actress never to have been nominated, or Edward G. Robinson, probably the greatest actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age not to have been nominated, but everyone agrees they were unjustly overlooked. Few think of Vincent Price in that regard, yet Price was a brilliant actor who reinvented himself several times over in his more than fifty year career in front of the camera, and was marvelous at every turn.

Born in 1911, he began his career on stage. On screen in the late 1930s, he had major supporting roles in Tower of London and The Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (as Walter Raleigh), both in 1939. In 1940 played Joseph Smith in Brigham Young and then starred in both The Invisible Man Returns and House of the Seven Gables. He then played the lead in Broadway’s Angel Street, which later won Charles Boyer an Oscar nomination when it was filmed as Gaslight.

He played a number of suave secondary leads in films of the 1940s, most notably in Laura, before embarking on his long, profitable career as the premier star of Hollywood horror films from the 1950s through the 1970s.

An art collector and an exhibited artist himself, a gourmet and writer of best-selling cookbooks celebrating his love of food, he was also briefly a musical comedy star in the 1968 Broadway musical, Darling of the Day reprising Monty Woolley’s famous role in Holy Matrimony. Co-star Patricia Routledge won a Tony in the Gracie Fields role.

Married three times, the last to brilliant Australian actress Coral Browne (Auntie Mame) from 1974 to her death in 1991, he converted to Catholicism for her and she became a U.S. citizen for him. His career rebounded in the 1980s with Tim Burton’s short Vincent and Michael Jackson’s phenomenal hit record and video, Thriller. He also had memorable roles in his last two films, The Whales of August with Lillian Gish and Bette Davis, and Edward Scissorhands with Johnny Depp. He died in 1993 at 82.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

LAURA (1944), directed by Otto Preminger

Those who only know Price from later in his career might be shocked to know that he gave one of his greatest, most believable, performances as a gigolo in Laura. Cavorting between lovely young Gene Tierney and not so young or lovely Judith Anderson, you could never be certain until the last few minutes of the film whether or not he was the murderer in this darkest of film noir mysteries. The film is renowned for Preminger’s intense direction, David Raskin’s haunting score and the performances of the all five of the film’s stars – Dana Andrews and Oscar nominated Clifton Webb were the other two. The lyrics to the best-selling title song were not added until after the film’s release, but the film and the song are so entwined in people’s memories that many people swear they heard the song sung in the film. They didn’t!

CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950), directed by Richard Whorf

This is the film for which Price most deserved an Oscar nomination. The film is about a college professor, played by Ronald Colman, who sets out to win a TV quiz show and bankrupt its sponsor, a cosmetics company headed by an unctuous Price. Displaying heretofore unseen depths of comic genius, Price steals every scene he’s in. Whether seething with rage, on the brink of going into a trance, oozing fake politeness or on the verge of a heart attack, Price’s comic timing is priceless. Had the film been directed by a Lubitsch or a Wilder it would undoubtedly be regarded today as a comic masterpiece instead of the little known gem it is.

HOUSE OF WAX (1953), directed by Andre de Toth

Though it would take 1958’s The Fly and 1959’s The House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler to cement Price’s reputation as the go-to star of the era’s horror films, House of Wax, his first film in the genre since 1939’s Tower of London, was the film that opened up new possibilities for the aging star.

A huge hit in 3-D, stereophonic sound, and vivid Warner Color, this remake of 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum is just as mesmerizing in standard two dimension prints. Phyllis Kirk, Frank Lovejoy and Carolyn Jones also star, but it’s Price’s bloodcurdling performance that you will never forget.

THEATRE OF BLOOD (1973), directed by Douglas Hickox

Price had one of his best roles as the ham actor who fakes his death and returns to kill the critics, one by one, who had such mean things to say about him over the years. The deaths, all based on events in Shakespearean plays, are inventive and funny, with all the actors, especially Price and Diana Rigg as his daughter the sand-outs. Future wife Coral Browne, who he met on the film, plays one of the critics Price does away with.

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990), directed by Tim Burton

One of the best films from the triumvirate of director Tim Burton, actor Johnny Depp and composer Danny Elfman, the title character is the creation of an elderly inventor, played by Price, who must fend for himself after the death of his “father”.

Price doesn’t have much to do in the film – he dies in the first reel – but his presence is felt throughout the film. Few actors have had such a lovely tribute at the end of their careers as the one Burton provides for Price here.

SELECTED AWARDS FOR VINCENT PRICE

• Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (Date Unknown)
• Career Achievement – Academy of Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy Films (1986)
• Independent Spirit Supporting Actor nomination – The Whales of August (1987)
• Career Achievement – L.A. Film Critics (1991)