Rating: 
Summary: Almost Daddy Dearest
Review: As a long time admirer of Vincent Price I found this book quite interesting and entertaining. On the plus side ,it provides a comprehensive overview of the subject's movie career with enough "Behind the Scenes" trivia to satisfy the fans. It certainly opens the door on the various Price households (plural !) and there are a few revelations. The author has a smooth writing style and the book is easy to read.However,far too much space was devoted to "Vinnie's" involvement in the world of art . I found myself skipping over ALOT of pages . Worth buying at a budget "Price" if you're a fan of this uniquely talented actor.
Rating: 
Summary: Vincent Price: A Loving Daughter's Eloquent & Informative B
Review: How presumptuous of Brian Hathaway to assume that anyone else could have such an absurd take on such a wonderful, entertaining, educational and very loving biography. I don't know what streets he's walking down but I don't think that they exist in Raleigh, NC or anywhere other than, perhaps, his own mind. The style and eloquence of this book made it a joy along with so many fascinating (1st hand)stories as well as historical accounting of a time gone by. As for the "bi" part...with so many other wonderfully informant and enjoyable excerpts why does HE want to focus on this? But, yes, I agree with the daughter, better to address it and put it to bed (no punn intended) than ignore what has been a Hollywood whisper. Good job, Victoria. Always a fan of your father, and, now, thankfully you! I found it extremely fascinating, entertaining and educational and bought 6 copies for Christmas presents.Looking forward to your next book... Go lick your own wounds, Brian.
Rating: 
Summary: Good and bad...
Review: Many people know Vincent Price simply as "that horror film actor". He was, however, a man of many varied interests and talents, far beyond those even most fans might be aware of. The life of Vincent Price could be summed up in one word: full. Price did so much with his life that the author's job of bringing it to one book must have been daunting. But Victoria accomplishes this task quite well. From traveling to and receiving his education in Europe, to his first major stage role (and huge hit) in Victoria Regina, his stage, television and film work, marriages, children, interests in travel, public-speaking, cooking, writing and well-known and life-long love of art are all here. For those who must have something a little more lurid, heretofore-unknown facts about his involvement with the Fifties McCarthy witch-hunts and the rather shocking deal he made, and his sexuality are touched on. The greatest achievement of this book, however, owes as much to Vincent Price himself as it does to the author. Throughout his life Vincent wrote (and kept) an enormous amount of correspondence. With this wealth of personal documents at her disposal, Victoria sprinkles quotes from Vincent throughout the book. Thus, we are fortunate to have Vincent's life unfold before us as if Vincent himself were relating his own story. His triumphs, failures, joys, fears, pain. Vincent talks to us about each. Never before has a person's life, documented by another, been brought so close to the reader, or made so personal. Many thanks are due, both to Victoria and Vincent for this wonderful accomplishment. There are a few downsides to the book, however. The book is lacking when the author discusses her father's films. She has over the years admitted that she never really watched her father's horror pictures. As such, we regretfully do not gain many insights into the making of those films that we didn't already know from other books. This is a huge opportunity lost. And sadly, the slant that comes across when the author discusses her (deceased) stepmother, actress Coral Browne, is decidedly negative. While entitled to include or discard facts as one wishes (for this book is as much a memoir of Victoria's life as it is a bio of Vincent's), one wishes the author hadn't been quite so needful (and used a bio of her father as the vehicle) to paint Browne in such a bad light. The uplifting, joyful and celebratory narrative of Vincent's life comes to an abrupt halt when the author turns her attention to detailing her stepmother's perceived faults.
Rating:
Summary: POOR PRICE TO PAY FOR SUCH A GENIUS
Review: The price one must pay for being famous -- and a father -- is that one of your kids will write a book about you. There will be the good. And the bad. Victoria Price doesn't do a "Daddy Dearest," nor does she dish too much in this bio of her father, he who continues to scare the bejesus out of filmgoers in such classics as "The Fly," "House on Haunted Hill" and "House of Wax." She does reveal some shockers: As a student, Price was anti-Semitic, writing letters praising Hitler; during the McCarthy witchhunt of the '50s, he condemned his peers who took the Fifth when asked if they were members of the Communist Party. Price's effete quality is also discussed, and though Victoria claims she could not find any evidence Dad was gay or bisexual, he did acknowledge that he once had a relationship with a man that he described as "a love affair without the sex." A small price to pay, indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: Portrait of a Renaissance Man
Review: This biography is surprisingly good, considering the subject's own daughter wrote it. Victoria Price manages to remain objective in discussing her father's life, though - as is only to be expected - she accentuates the positive and quickly glances by the negative. Not that this is a bad thing (I wouldn't expect, or necessarily be attracted to, some kind of expose on the man), but it does leave unanswered questions.Victoria brings up Vincent's "grey listing" during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, and his getting around it by making some general pro-American/anti-Communist statements to the FBI denoting basic agreement with them (citing organizations and non-named individuals as being un-American) for instance, and even that his affirmations to the contrary were later discovered (by her) to be false, but this is quickly glossed over - as is her father's "occasional drinking problem," which she tantalizingly hints was an ongoing familial difficulty but refuses to detail. Vincent was involved in the 1959 rigged quiz-show hearings for his part in The $64,000 Question, about which Victoria hastens to inform us he was found innocent, or at least ignorant, of - though oddly she virtually proves the actor's at least semi-knowing involvement in his behind-the-scenes pre-briefings before airtime. Victoria is best at presenting the human side of the man, which is after all what a good biography does. Her greatest strength is in detailing his psychological development and early career, pre-horror star status. She falters considerably from Vincent's American International Pictures years on, admitting herself that she still hasn't seen his many famous horror films. Anyone looking for information on those projects and those years would do best to look elsewhere. Still, that this is a less thorough biography than it could be is a matter of little import. It does genuinely paint a warm portrait of what Vincent Price was, by one of the people who would know best: an accomplished art critic and collector, a gourmand, a generous benefactor to those in need, a concerned and active political man, a devoted father, and (of course) a celebrated actor. Victoria does at least mention her father's flaws, in such fashion as one can only sympathize with them, and does a wonderful job of presenting the famous actor as the remarkably vigorous and witty Renaissance man he was.
Rating:
Summary: The best account of a film ledgend I've ever read.
Review: This book is a very candid, affectionate and revealing look at Vincent Price, not only as a ledgend in the Horror Film genre, but as a very cultivated and educated indavidual, always willing to give more then he can, to the arts media. The book was very interesting to read because the author explains why and how Vincent Price was successful in Hollywood films while he managed to sustain his other iterests and his domestic life. The reader will learn many fascinating things about the famous actor in a way that if one were to look at any of his films afterword, they would view him in a totally different yet still mysterious manner. As a horror fanatic, I'm partial to anything related to the subject matter. This book, however, was full of fun facts and referencaes about certain horror films I've never known. The authors account was very warm, at times humorous and quite amazing. I definately enjoyed the book, and reccomend it to anyone interested in film and media, horror film ledgends or even those who just want to read something different. A must read !
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Book
Review: This excellent book works on any number of levels. It chronicles, in wonderful detail and depth, the career of a unique cinematic legend. It examines with sensitivity and compassion the personal life of a fascinating, complex and idiosyncratic man. And. most impressively of all, it serves as the record of a woman's coming to understand and appreciate the man who was her father. Vincent Price may have been a unique, instantly recognizable cinematic icon, but Victoria Price focuses on him as a human being, and that makes this book universal. Ms. Price is an excellent prose stylist. She is also admirably self-revealing, and by the time you finish this book, she feels like a personal friend. A very fine achievment.
Rating:
Summary: The closest look we will probably ever get of a horror star
Review: This is probably the most rounded, most intimate portrait we will ever get of a horror film star. Due to her unparallelled access to her father, his unpublished memoirs, and his letters, Victoria Price gives us a remarkably intimate and detailed view of her father's public and private life. The strongest parts of the book are her portraits of her father's theatrical career (covered in great detail), and his rich private and social life. His marriages to Mary Grant Price and Coral Browne are portrayed in all their complexity,and Price's final years are revealed with both love and sadness. The book has literally dozens of fresh details about Price's private life which were unknown to even this veteran fan. The book has its weaknesses, though: Victoria Price has no great interest or love for horror movies, and her usually rigorous command of detail breaks down when she covers these topics. And her coverage of Price's film career is heavily dependent on an earlier book by Lucy Chase Williams, THE COMPLETE FILMS OF VINCENT PRICE--to the point where I thought she had Williams book in one hand while typing in the other. Additionally, Ms. Price's book lacks footnotes, a somewhat maddening omission, as the many anecdotes from her father are all unsourced. But all in all, this is a must-buy and must-read for any Vincent Price fan.
Rating:
Summary: well, it's a great book but...
Review: Victoria Price has written a book that i feel is a double edged sword toward her father. i've read it many times and prior to buying the Lucy Chase Williams book on Vincent, i'd pull out Victoria's book as a reference for something obscure or whatever. well, those times are over. it is no secret that Vincent was a liberal politically. his interest in art, conservation, and theatre among other things are stereotypically liberal that we didn't need his daughter to hammer the point home because there's some fans out there, like me, who could care less about their favorite actor or singer's political views and i get offended when it comes across that Republicans like myself shouldn't be a fan of Vincent's because "we're bad and want to destroy public TV and arts programs", which is how i took it from reading this book. politics you might ask? it's true! Victoria at times brings up the liberalism that she and her parents lived and practiced but she intentionally or accidentally makes people who don't live that way or think as her friends do as being strange or abnormal...in addition, Victoria goes into detail about his successful career on the stage in playhouses all over the United States and abroad and to me this was informative because most people focus on his horror career only. but, here comes another problem, the lack of information on his horror career and his movies in general. what we're treated to are her accounts of what critics or her father had to say about the movies...she offers no first-hand knowledge and SHE IS HIS DAUGHTER so she should know things we don't already...and by the time this book arrived she had PLENTY of time to watch his horror films and get an opinion of them. but, Vincent's dramatic films are also given very little discussion. if we're to believe her, none of her father's films are worth watching unless they recieved high praise from a nationally known critic or were box office successes. she paints a picture that her father's films can't be open to anyone's viewpoint once a critic has stamped it a bomb or whatever. i've seen quite a few of his so-called flops and they were GREAT! near the end of the book we're told about his career on TV and in commercials. his 1981-1989 run as the host of the PBS classic show "Mystery!" is also touched upon but once again, Victoria showers the chapters with second and third-hand information that family should already know first-hand. the pictures in the book are great!! i love the one where he's with his peers: Karloff, Lorre, and Rathbone during a photo shoot in the early '60s. there is a segment in the book that details Vincent's artistic flamboyance, and she brings up the silly rumors that Vincent was bi-sexual. first off, Vincent's sexual behavior isn't interesting to me! when i'm watching him stare at someone with that menacing look or if he's laughing at some devious scheme he's cooked up, i'm certainly not thinking about who he's sleeping with or who he finds attractive off-screen and so i find this section of the book silly and uncalled for and a MAJOR distraction to what the book was suppose to be, a biography of her father through HER eyes and NOT through the eyes and opinions of critics and industry insiders, which is basically what it turns out to be as a whole!! the only time i see that she gets personal and really says how she feels is when she talks about Vincent and his life with Coral Browne {near the end of the book since the marriage came in 1974}. now, i don't expect Victoria to drop to her knees and kiss the ground her step-mother walked on because after all Coral wasn't Victoria's mother, but at the same time, Corale couldn't have been that awful or else Victoria would've said something DECADES ago to a tabloid paper!! i give this book 3 stars because Victoria doesn't seem to realize that her father's fans aren't interested in rumor, gossip, and alleged communist involvement that were never proven because the accusations were flimsy and had no weight, so it's baffling as to why she'd plant those kind of thoughts about her father to potential new fans who ONLY know of Vincent through Batman re-runs {Vincent played "Egghead" on a few episodes}.
Rating:
Summary: A renaissance man--they don't make them like this anymore.
Review: What a life! There is one word I can think of to describe Vincent Price--Integrity. This book was a disappointment, however. The author's (Price's daughter) constant rant about evil conservatives detracted from the reason I bought the book in the first place--love of the films. Although I enjoyed reading of his personal political thoughts, I couldn't be sure where his' thoughts left off and her's began.
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