Happy 100th, Mr. Price

As a longtime fan of Vincent Price, I couldn't allow his 100th birthday to go unnoticed. Not when I've relished his spooky presence in countless film, television and radio appearances.

But how did I discover the wonderful creepiness of Vincent Price? A late-night movie? An old horror radio show? A record of scary tales one Halloween night? No . It was none of these. My earliest memory of Vincent Price came via The Bionic Woman.




The Bionic Woman was the favourite television show of my 12 year-old self and Jaime Sommers was my idol. So when an episode entitled Black Magic appeared, I was quite naturally positioned in front of our television set. A spooky old house and an eccentric cast of characters made it one of my favourites. And perhaps the most eccentric character of all was a weird old man who had gathered his relatives together for the reading of a will. Classic.

I believe it was my mother who informed me that this weird old man was Vincent Price and that he had a long history of spookiness. It was the beginning of a beautiful, albeit one-sided, relationship.