Victoria Price
Horror movie don Vincent Price’s legacy is being kept alive… from BEYOND THE GRAVE! Specifically by his daughter Victoria, who presents talks and screenings in Wales this month. Chris Andrews finds out more.
When he passed away in 1993, Vincent Price, the legendary Hollywood star of so many classic movies, left behind a body of work few can match. But the legacy of the man himself is something that not many people may be aware of and when his daughter Victoria Price fell on hard times some years ago, she looked to her late father for inspiration and is now looking to pass that inspiration on to others in her work.
“It’s vitally important in this day and age to have role models who exude kindness and express generosity. But I also believe it’s what made him so popular as a horror actor,” she points out. “People loved to be scared by him because they sensed that underneath his ability to scare people to death, there was something safe about him. Something you could love.”
In these uncertain times, it seems the House Of Wax star could be an inspiration to us even now. “My father saw himself as a public servant. He knew he had been given an extraordinary life, and so he wanted to use his fame to help others, by encouraging young people to pursue their creative passions, speaking out on behalf of people who were not given a voice, and also simply by being interested in everyone he met and giving them his time. He understood that, ultimately, the only legacy that matters is the legacy of love. And that’s a great lesson for us all, especially right now.”
Indeed, Price was one of the early mainstream advocates for LGBTQ rights, at a time when people in his position generally shied away from such matters. “He was open-minded and open-hearted because, in his heart, he was probably much more fluid about love and sexuality than most of his generation.”
With a surname like Price, the actor assumed for most of his life that he had Welsh genealogy, but in 2011 Victoria made a discovery. “He thought he was Welsh. But when I came to Aberystwyth, a wonderful genealogy researcher from the library there was assigned by the BBC to find out more about my dad’s Welsh ancestors. About an hour before we were to be filmed, he came to me in a panic saying he hadn’t been able to find any Welsh connections. So, we focused on my mum instead.”
Victoria’s mother Mary Grant was born in Broadhaven, Pembrokeshire and met Vincent on the set of Up In Central Park where she worked as a costume designer. “She was brought out to Hollywood for her first film in the late 1940s. They had mutual friends who seated them next to one another at a dinner party.”
So did young Victoria spend much time in Wales as a child? “I only came once, when I was 10 years old. My dad was filming Theatre Of Blood and we were living in London for the summer. We came to visit my mom’s birthplace. But since then, I have been back twice and am looking forward to what will now be my fourth visit. I really love Wales, and especially love going to Aberystwyth for the Abertoir Film Festival, where my dad is its patron saint.”
So, keen to spread the life lessons she learned from her father, what’s next on the agenda for the author and public speaker? “My next book, titled Living Love: 12 Heart-Centered Practices To Transform Your Life will be out next April. It’s about how I took what I learned from my dad about love and joy and kindness and created practices that changed me from an anxious, uptight, self-loathing, selfish workaholic to someone much more at peace in myself. I will also continue to lead bespoke cultural tours with my friend and colleague Peter Fuller, who runs the Vincent Price Legacy UK. And, of course, I will keep sharing my dad’s legacy of love with his fans around the world.
Victoria Price hosts a talk and Q&A, plus screening of The Abominable Dr. Phibes (The Riverfront, Newport, Sat 14 Sept) and Dragonwyck (Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Tue 17 Sept). Tickets: £5-£8. Info: tickets.newportlive.co.uk / www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk