Vincent Price said that watching his father give up his own dreams taught him a valuable lesson
"I vowed never to feel trapped by my life."
Growing up in the Depression was difficult for Vincent Price, though the uphill battle didn’t stop him from pursuing his true passion: performing. In fact, according to The Price of Fear: The Film Career of Vincent Price, In His Own Words, by Joel Eisner, the odds stacked against him actually fueled Price.
“I don’t think I would have been so determined to make something of myself if it hadn’t been for the Depression,” said the House on Haunted Hill (1959) actor. “When my brother, Morimer, graduated from Yale 14 years before, the world was his oyster. He was an enchanting man, but he never took advantage of all his opportunities...When I graduated, there were no jobs. The world was not my oyster, but a very small pebble you had to push around with your nose. So I realized you have to seize every opportunity that comes your way.”
Price came from parents who were supportive of his dreams, but held their own fair share of reservations. His father, Vincent Leonard Price, sacrificed his own personal dreams to run a candy company.
“My father made it successful,” said Price, “but by then he had children, and he felt he had to stay in the business. So he never did what he really wanted to do, which was to become a lawyer and to write poetry.”
These unfortunate circumstances reminded Price to live life to the fullest. “I was always a risk taker,” said the actor. “I suppose because I sensed my father’s disappointment in his own life. That’s why I vowed never to feel trapped by my life.”
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