A veteran of theatre, film, radio, and television, Vincent Price's fifty-five-year acting career ran the gamut from classic film noir to especially bad "B" movies, but his lasting legacy is the Gothic horror movies he made with ghoulish glee and good humor. In the era that preceded the cinematic bloodbath of late-twentieth century slasher films, the mellifluous and debonair Price reigned as Hollywood's Master of the Macabre. With his distinctive voice, handsome demeanor, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach to Gothic films, as he liked to call them, Price brought style and fun to the horror genre. Generations of film fans reveled in Price's ability to send his audiences on a hilarious horror romp and then scare them to death.

Although his style was decidedly English, Vincent Leonard Price Jr. hailed from Middle America. The youngest child of a successful candy manufacturer, Price was raised in...