As a longtime fan of Vincent Price, it’s hard for me to know what others bring to the table in terms of Priceian knowledge. I bet everyone knows his classic horror films, has heard his cackling iconic laugh from the end of Thriller, or perhaps remembers him from Edward Scissorhands.
There’s so much more to Price than that.
Vincent Price was an artist and a humanist. He once described his circle of artist friends:
We may all be a peculiar lot...often broke, often dissatisfied because we're not doing more and better work...but we know how to have a ball that makes the rest of the world seem square.
I found this photo of artist Vincent at work on http://iheartvincentprice.tumblr.com/. This is a place for people who see the Vincent Price I do -- the man who embraced his own quirks, who allowed himself to express his difference, who was unashamed to be set apart from the crowd. I love the writeup on the first page: “How to Be like Vincey.”
Vincent Price was a cook. He published numerous cookbooks and hosted a food show called Cooking Pricewise.
Vincent Price was a vocal supporter of the queer community in a time when it wasn’t fashionable to do so. He was an honorary board member of PFLAG and outspoken against Anita Bryant’s anti-gay campaign in the ‘70′s.
Married three times to women, Vincent Price spoke with his daughter Victoria when she came out about his own bisexuality:
You know, I know just how you feel because I have had these deep, loving relationships with men in my life and all my wives were a little jealous.
She went on,
In a funny way, and I think I’m going to cry, he understood me at 22 better than I understood myself then. Of course, he was in his 70s and lived a hell of a lot longer than I had. He understood that at the end of the day it’s about who and what and how we love.
Thank you, Vincent Price, for exploring your quirky interests without apology and using your love of art to express yourself in the world. Thank you for leaving us all a fantastic museum of your incredible art collection. Thank you for making Halloween fun and weird in the best way.
Thank you for being threaded into the most surprising places, and popping out when I least expect it.