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Vincent Price lamented the loss of freaks in Hollywood
Be a little weird today, for Vincent.
If living in this crazy world has taught us anything, it's that being a little freaky can be a good thing.
Sometimes, the traits that you're most judged for are the things that make you truly special. Being different is a great thing. But be warned: Those who see you walk against the status quo may try to shove you into societal expectations of what's "normal."
If you don't believe us, maybe you'll listen to the King of Freak himself, Vincent Price. Price was a weird guy, to say the least, and it was a title that he wore as a badge of honor.
In an interview with the Casper Star-Tribune, Price said that one of the worst victims of society's "normalization" was Hollywood.
"I think one of the deaths of Hollywood is that producers tried to make everybody normal," said the Comedy of Terrors actor. "When you look at people you knew, all the Barrymores, Errol Flynn, Charles Laughton, they were eccentrics...I don't want to read about some of these actresses who are around today. They sound like my niece in Scarsdale. I love my niece in Scarsdale but I won't buy tickets to see her act."
"They've sort of been drummed out of the business," Price said of the more off-beat actors in Hollywood. "You have to be the boy next door."
Of course, the entertainment industry is known to be quite cutthroat; refuse to conform and you might pay with your career. Strangely enough, when Price relished in his eccentricity, the public celebrated him for it. Weirdness was a trait that the actor insisted we needed more of in this world.
"I lecture all over the country," he said. "The thing that is fun when you go to a town is to see that it is the eccentric person that becomes the center of the artistic endeavor, cultural endeavor, or fun endeavor in a community."
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5 Comments
Or a pretty voice over someone with a unusual voice who can actually act.
That's why I love movies from the 1930s through the 1950s. Characters are more real because they don't all look like Brad Pitt and Tom cruise.
You know who agrees with me? Rob Zombie. Just watch one of his movies and you will see what I mean. Characters are believable because they look like you and me. Or at least me, you may be one of the beautiful people.
I think part of his charm was thar he was just about the biggest ham in Hollywood history,
in a fun way that made the viewer like him even more. The epitome of that was 1951's
"His Kind of Woman" with Robert Mitchum, Price was fantastic. Raymond Burr played
a hood in it, plus Jane Russell.
