Here's a new caricature of Vincent Price that I drew for this past week's subject on Caricaturama Showdown 3000. I've written about Vincent Price before, as he was one of my favourite actors and I was lucky enough to have met him in person many years ago. As reference for this illustration pictured above, I turned to his role as Mr. Trumbull the undertaker, who's desperate for business in the 1963 dark comedy, The Comedy of Terrors. Here he is offering up some "medicine" to his infirm and nearly deaf father-in-law, played by Boris Karloff.
Incidentally, I'm dedicating this Halloween post to Belle Dee, who is a huge fan of Vincent Price, as well as of all the gothic horror films from AIP and Hammer studios of the 60's and 70's. Belle is also a very talented illustrator/cartoonist who has created a great many illustrations of her favourite horror film stars. Please be sure to check out her stylish art on her Facebook page.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of this cop who's trying to arrest me for drinking and jiving at the Arthur Murray Halloween Dance...
Last year on this same date I celebrated the birthday of one of my favourite actors, Vincent Price. By some coincidence, today is also the birthday of another horror film veteran, Christopher Lee. (And if that's not amazing enough, his buddy and frequent film costar, Peter Cushing celebrated his birthday yesterday on May 26th!)
But today we honour Mr. Christopher Lee, whom I'm happy to see is still quite active an actor, having appeared in The Lord of the Rings films, as well as in the most recent Star Wars entries as Count Dooku. And as if that wasn't enough, he's done a couple of turns for his big fan, director Tim Burton, including playing Willy Wonka's dad in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I see from his IMDb page that he's also scheduled to play the Jabberwock in Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland. I suspect that it will just be his voice that's heard in that role though, as I can't imagine him wearing a rubber dragon-like costume to play the part.
All of this film activity is particularly admirable when one considers that Mr. Lee will be turning 87 today. Where have the years all gone? He received his greatest fame, of course in all of those wonderful Hammer horror films of the late 50s/early 60s, including several star turns as Count Dracula. Frankly, it doesn't seem that long ago when Christopher Lee was starring opposite Roger Moore in the 1974 James Bond entry, The Man with the Golden Gun. It is his role in this film as the million dollars a hit assassin, Scaramanga, that inspired this caricature I drew of him a few days ago after watching the film again on DVD. What a great villain he makes, with that refined deep, rich voice of his - the perfect British cad! I wish I could find a YouTube clip from the film where he speaks, but you'll just have to settle instead for this non-verbal scene where Scaramanga menaces his mistress, played by the lovely Maud Adams:
However, if you would like to hear that deep baritone of his, here's a real oddity I came across in my search where Christopher Lee actually sings. I must admit, I have never heard of The Return of Captain Invincible until now but, after watching this bizarre clip, I have to somehow see this film!!
Today I'd like to celebrate that master of camp horror, Vincent Price, on the 97th anniversary of his birthday. He's long been a favourite of mine, though ironically my first introduction to him as a kid was seeing him on the TV game show, "Hollywood Squares"! However, I soon thereafter started catching his movies on TV, particularly all of his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for director Roger Corman. While most of these films were played fairly straight, it was the more comic film, "The Raven" that I liked the best, especially since it costarred veterans, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. I also like the black humoured, "Theatre of Blood", which I understand was a favourite of Price himself.
Back in 1976 I decided to write a fan letter to Vincent Price, along with sending him a caricature I had drawn of him at that time. I took a chance and sent it care of "Hollywood Squares", as I didn't know where else to send it. Happily it found him, and sometime later I received this postcard back from him thanking me for the sketch. As you can imagine, this 16 year old kid was overjoyed!
A couple years later I was doing cartoons for "The Ottawa Citizen" newspaper, including the occasional celebrity caricature for the entertainment section. One of the writers on staff, Tony Lofaro, was keen to use my work and one day he called me to ask if I was aware that Vincent Price was coming to Ottawa's National Arts Centre to appear in "Diversions and Delights", his one man show portraying Oscar Wilde. I'd actually already purchased a ticket to go see the show, but Tony was offering something better. He knew I was a huge fan of Price and told me that there was a small press gathering to be held at the NAC prior to his performance and that, since Tony himself couldn't make it, would I like to use his press pass and attend myself? Wow! Obviously I took him up on the offer.
The press gathering was indeed a rather intimate affair with not more than about 10 or 12 people in attendance, including Gord Atkinson, a local radio personality who had a syndicated show that celebrated the Golden Age of entertainment. It was held in a large conference room at the National Arts Centre with a big rectangular table that we all sat at. Without much delay, Vincent Price arrived and greeted us all very warmly. After doing an interview for Gord Atkinson, he proceeded to take questions from us all regarding his career. During the whole interview I had been busily sketching a caricature of him as he spoke, which I will scan in later today and add here tomorrow. Afterward, we all got to chat very informally with Price and I presented him with a caricature that I'd painted and framed up beforehand. Also, to my thrill, somebody took a photo of us together and promised to send me a print. Though the quality of the photo is not great, it is still a very treasured momento of a very wonderful day. As you can see, I was a pretty scruffy looking 18 year old teen!
I'll always recall that Vincent Price was a very warm and kind gentleman who took the time to chat with a young fan about his films and made everybody feel very welcome that day. He was a class act and I miss him very much.
PS: Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I even missed my post count hitting the 100,000 mark! Thanks for coming back despite my tardiness - I'll try to post more often! :)
Here's a new caricature of Vincent Price that I drew for this past week's subject on Caricaturama Showdown 3000. I've written about Vincent Price before, as he was one of my favourite actors and I was lucky enough to have met him in person many years ago. As reference for this illustration pictured above, I turned to his role as Mr. Trumbull the undertaker, who's desperate for business in the 1963 dark comedy, The Comedy of Terrors. Here he is offering up some "medicine" to his infirm and nearly deaf father-in-law, played by Boris Karloff.
Incidentally, I'm dedicating this Halloween post to Belle Dee, who is a huge fan of Vincent Price, as well as of all the gothic horror films from AIP and Hammer studios of the 60's and 70's. Belle is also a very talented illustrator/cartoonist who has created a great many illustrations of her favourite horror film stars. Please be sure to check out her stylish art on her Facebook page.
