- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDennistoun Franklyn John Rose-Price
- Nickname
- Denis Price
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- This urbane, sourly handsome British actor was born to privilege and
most of his roles would follow suit. Born Dennistoun John Franklyn
Rose-Price in Berkshire in 1915, Dennis Price, the son of a
brigadier-general, was expected to abide by his family wishes and make
a career for himself in the army or the church. Instead he became an
actor. First on stage (Oxford University Dramatic Society) where he
debuted with John Gielgud in "Richard II"
in 1937, he was further promoted in the theatre by
Noël Coward.
After brief extra work, Price nabbed early star-making film roles in
several overbaked Gainsborough mysteries/melodramas, including
A Place of One's Own (1945),
The Magic Bow (1946) and
Caravan (1946), but the one showcase role
that could have led him to Hollywood, that of the title poet in
The Bad Lord Byron (1949),
proved a critical and commercial failure. He took this particularly
hard and fell into severe depression. His fatally charming serial
murderer in
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949),
in which he does in nearly all of
Alec Guinness' eight characters (Guiness
plays eight different roles), is arguably his crowning achievement on
celluloid.
By the 50s Price was suffering from severe alcoholism, which adversely
affected his personal and professional career. A marriage to bit
actress Joan Schofield in 1939 ended
eleven years later, due to his substance abuse problem and
homosexuality, the latter being a source of great internal anguish for
him. They had two daughters.
Price became less reliable and fell steeply in his ranking, moving into
less quality "B" pictures. Eccentric comedy renewed his fading star a
bit in such delightful farces as
Private's Progress (1956),
I'm All Right Jack (1959) and
School for Scoundrels (1960).
TV also saved him for a time in the 60s with the successful series
The World of Wooster (1965),
in which he played the disdainful butler, Jeeves.
Bad times, however, resurfaced. He filed bankruptcy in 1967 and moved
to the remote Channel Island of Sark for refuge. Many of his roles were
reduced to glorified cameos and the necessity for cash relegated him to
appearing in campy "Z" grade cheapfests, many helmed by the infamous
writer/director Jesús Franco, a sort of
Spanish version of Roger Corman.
Vampyros Lesbos (1971) was just
one of his dreadful entries. Price also played Dr. Frankenstein for
Franco in
Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972)
[Dracula vs. Frankenstein] and the
The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1973)
[The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein]. Fully bloated and in delicate
health, he died in 1973 at age 58 in a public ward from liver
cirrhosis. A sad ending for one who of Britain's more promising actors
and film stars.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net - This tall (6' 2"), suave, elegant leading man of the 1940's and later
character star of distinction, was born Dennistoun Franklyn John
Rose-Price, the son of Brigadier General T. Rose-Price, on 23 June
1915, in Twyford, Berkshire, England. He was educated at Radley, and at
Worcester College, Oxford, where he became a member of the OUDS and
made his stage debut in 1936. The following year he appeared in the
film No Parking (1938) as well as in a
number of early BBC television plays, until the outbreak of war in
1939. Also in 1939, he met and married the actress
Joan Schofield (also the child of a
Brigadier general). They had two daughters, Susan Joan (born 7 July 1940) and Tessa Alexandra
(born 30 October 1943).
In 1940, Price joined the Royal Artillery, where he served until being
wounded in 1942. His brother Arthur, who had joined the RAF, was shot
down and killed in the Battle of Britain. Returning to England in 1942,
he resumed his career, touring with Noel Coward in 'This Happy Breed,'
and other plays Coward's company produced. In 1943 prominent director
Michael Powell saw him in the play 'Springtime for Others' at the Arts
Theatre. Powell was so impressed that he cast Price immediately to star
in A Canterbury Tale (1944) The
film was both critically and financially successful, and Price's career
as a leading man was under way.
He appeared with James Mason in
A Place of One's Own (1945),
which also starred Margaret Lockwood,
with whom he had an affair which carried on during subsequent films
they made together:
Hungry Hill (1947),
Bad Sister (1947), and
Jassy (1947). Lockwood stated in an
interview in 1984 "We were both married with small children, so we
decided to call it off."
Price had been making a number of successful films, most of them for
Gainsborough, such as Caravan (1946),
The Magic Bow (1946),
Holiday Camp (1947), (in which he
played a murderer),
Dear Murderer (1947),
Snowbound (1948) and
Good-Time Girl (1948), but the one
that could have made him an international name,
The Bad Lord Byron (1949), was
a flop.
He began drinking heavily after this failure, but the following year
saw probably his greatest triumph, that of Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, who
schemes to murder those who stand in line to his becoming the Duke of
Chalfont in Ealing Studios' brilliant black comedy,
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949).
This was considered Ealing's masterpiece, and, although
Alec Guinness is remembered for his eight
different characters, it's really Price who dominates the film with his
cold, refined, urbane and elegant performance and narration.
In 1950 there was a divorce from Joan Schofield, which sent him into
further depression, not helped by his heavy drinking and fondness for
gambling. His next film,
Fortune in Diamonds (1951), was a
very fine film with Jack Hawkins, and was ballyhooed as "the British
'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'!"
Price was still appearing on the stage quite often, and made his U.S.
debut in 'Bell, Book and Candle' in 1951.
The Intruder (1953) was another good
film which reunited him with Jack Hawkins, although by now he was
getting somewhat smaller roles and those he starred in were B pictures.
Still drinking and depressed, he attempted suicide in 1954 in his
Kensington flat in a gas oven; fortunately a servant found him in time.
He resumed his career immediately, appearing in such films as
That Lady (1955), with Olivia de
Havilland, and
Private's Progress (1956), and
in 1957 scored a big success while touring South Africa as Major
Pollock in the play 'Separate Tables.' He also made a film with his
good friend Jack Hawkins that year called
She Played with Fire (1957)
('She Played with Fire' in the USA).
By now Price was showing a great flair for character roles, sometimes
comedic, and very good films were coming along, including
Your Past Is Showing (1957),
Breakout (1959),
I'm All Right Jack (1959),
Tunes of Glory (1960),
The Millionairess (1960),
School for Scoundrels (1960),
Victim (1961),
No Love for Johnnie (1961),
Call Me Genius (1961),
The Cracksman (1963),
Tamahine (1963),
The Comedy Man (1964), and
Ten Little Indians (1965) as
alcoholic Dr. Armstrong.
1965 saw Price cast as Jeeves in the television series
The World of Wooster (1965)
which ran until 1968, and also starred
Ian Carmichael as Bertie Wooster.
The series, which was a huge success, endeared Price as a new character
to a different generation. P.G. Wodehouse, upon seeing it, stated that
Dennis Price was "born to play Jeeves", and Wodehouse was pleased no
end about the casting.
Unfortunately, Price had two major vices: drinking and gambling, and,
in 1967, was in bankruptcy court, where he stated "extravagant living
and most inadequate gambling" as the reason he was there. He owed the
Inland Revenue some 20,000 pounds, which he eventually paid back,
partly by appearing in some quite awful film productions in Spain, mostly
directed by Jesus Franco. Price also moved to the Channel Islands in
1967.
Although appearing on television and still in some decent films like
The Magic Christian (1969),
Pulp (1972), and several Hammer horror
films, Price was now being seen in some rubbish which was beneath his
talent and dignity. One of his last films was
Theater of Blood (1973) with
Vincent Price as a mad actor killing off all the critics, played by
such stars as Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins, Harry Andrews, and the like.
Dennis was very good as critic Hector Snipe, and showed he could still
give a good turn.
In October 1973, in his home in the Channel Islands, Price fell and
broke his hip; he was taken to hospital in Guernsey where he died on
October 6th, from heart failure as a direct result of the hip fracture.
There has been a rumor that he died of cirrhosis of the liver, but his
death certificate states that is not the case, as no autopsy was
performed. His last film,
Son of Dracula (1973), was
released the following year. He is buried on the Isle of Sark, next to
the Dame of Sark.
Dennis Price made nearly 170 film and television appearances, and
numerous theatre work, first as a suave leading man, (although he often
was either a murderer, or a murder victim!), and later as a character
star of great versatility. He once said "I am a second-rate feature
actor. I am not a star and never was. I lack the essential spark." Many
people would disagree, and it goes to show that one is not always the
best judge of one's own talent. In a career spanning nearly forty
years, he never seemed to be out of work and was always good value for
money. A 1969 TV Times article called him "very nearly Britain's
biggest film star."- IMDb Mini Biography By: Scott Palmer/Scott.Palmer2@cox.net
- SpouseJoan Schofield(June 29, 1939 - December 1950) (divorced, 2 children)
- ParentsThomas Rose Caradoc PriceDorothy Price
- Attempted suicide in 1954 by gas in his Kensington flat.
- His brother was Flying Officer Arthur Thomas Rose-Price RAF. He was posted to 501 Hurricane Squadron at Kenley on 9/2/40 at the height of the Battle of Britain. On arrival Rose-Price
flew a mission and before he could unpack his kit flew another mission
in the afternoon from which he failed to return and was posted missing. - Invalided out of the Royal Artillery in 1942.
- His army officer father was descended from a Cornish baronet's
family. - He had two daughters with his wife.
- I am a second-rate feature actor. I am not a star and never was. I lack the essential spark.
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