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Here's how Vincent Price's daughter described his relationship with Roger Corman
Insight into one of horror's greatest combos.
It's easy to get caught up in speculation about collaborators' relationships. Sometimes we're so sure that two artists must get along swimmingly. After all, just look at the work they produce! If that's not proof of a strong relationship, then what is? The truth, though, is often more complicated. Artists can have outrageous egos, and those big personalities often clash. The same traits that make great work can also make for strange bedfellows. Working closely with another can constantly conflict with an artist's urge to isolate and introspect. Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski nearly killed each other in pulling off some great film triumphs. Another slightly more accessible example is Fleetwood Mac.
Actors can be temperamental, and directors can be dictatorial, so it's a great accomplishment when they end up getting along. By all reports, this was the case for seven-time collaborators Roger Corman and Vincent Price. Price starred in all but one of Corman's eight adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's material. While these may have been loose retellings of Poe's stories, the duo had a tight partnership.
In her 1999 book Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography, Victoria Price characterizes her father's alliance with Corman as "easy and excellent." Corman was responsible for Price's continued relevance throughout the sixties. While the actor would've surely continued to capitalize on his success regardless, his association with the B-movie impresario kept Price working within a peaceful schedule.
Victoria Price interviewed Roger Corman and included in her book a few quotes that truly show the nature of the American International Pictures filmmaker's relationship with Vincent Price.
"Vincent required very little from the director," said Corman.
"He, as all good actors do, researched, prepared, and studied. In general, I would talk with Vincent before each picture so that we were in unity on words that have almost become clichés— the motivation, the subtext— so that we would evolve and define the character before the picture started. Once having done that, Vincent came to the set prepared and was wonderful to work with. I really didn't have time to go for more than two or three or maybe four takes at the most and Vincent understood that and was able to give that performance from the beginning."
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Still, my fave of his films are the horror ones Theatre of Blood (which made me interested in Shakespeare), Diary of a Madman, House of Was & The House on Haunted Hill.
