Dennis Price | |
|---|---|
 Price asJeeves | |
| Born | Dennistoun John Franklyn Rose Price (1915-06-23)23 June 1915 Ruscombe, England |
| Died | 6 October 1973(1973-10-06) (aged 58) Guernsey, Channel Islands |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1938–1973 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Dennistoun John Franklyn Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor. He played Louis Mazzini in theEaling Studios filmKind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and the omnicompetent valetJeeves in1960s television adaptations ofP. G. Wodehouse's stories.
Price was born inRuscombe inBerkshire. He had distant Welsh family connections, and was the son ofBrigadier-General Thomas Rose Caradoc Price (1875–1949),CMG,DSO[1] (who was a great-grandson ofSir Rose Price, 1st Baronet, and, through his mother, a descendant of theBaillie baronets[broken anchor] ofPolkemmet, nearWhitburn, West Lothian),[2][3] and his wife Dorothy, née Verey, daughter ofSir Henry Verey,[3] Official referee of theSupreme Court of Judicature.[4][5][3] He attendedCopthorne Prep School,Radley College andWorcester College, Oxford. He studied acting at theEmbassy Theatre School of Acting.[5]
Price made his first appearance on stage at theCroydon Repertory Theatre in June 1937, followed by a London debut at theQueen's Theatre on 6 September 1937 inRichard II.
He served in theRoyal Artillery from March 1940 to June 1942 during theSecond World War, but returned to acting after being invalided out,[3] appearing withNoël Coward inThis Happy Breed andPresent Laughter and later as Charles Condomine inBlithe Spirit, which he later named inWho's Who in the Theatre as one of his two favourite parts along with the title role inAndré Obey'sNoah.[5]
Price's first film role was inA Canterbury Tale (1944). He impressedGainsborough Pictures, which put him under contract. According to Brian MacFarlane, Price was "mercilessly used by Gainsborough [Pictures] in one unsuitable role after another" in this period.[6]
He was given a support role inA Place of One's Own (1945) starringJames Mason.British National borrowed him forThe Echo Murders (1946), a Sexton Blake film; he was then fourth-billed as the villain in aGainsborough melodrama,Caravan (1946) withStewart Granger andJean Kent, playing the type of villainous part that had made James Mason a star (and that Mason was no longer interested in playing). It was a huge success.
Price was a villain again in Gainsborough'sThe Magic Bow (1946) with Granger and Kent.Two Cities Films used him in one of its melodramas,Hungry Hill (1947). Gainsborough used him in villainous roles inDear Murderer,Holiday Camp,Jassy andMaster of Bankdam (all 1947).
He made two films forBernard Knowles, supportingMargaret Lockwood inThe White Unicorn and a comedy,Easy Money (both 1948). He followed this with a thriller,Snowbound, and a crime melodramaGood-Time Girl (both 1948). In 1948, British exhibitors voted Price the tenth-most popular British actor at the box office.[7][8]
He was promoted to starring roles. He was given the title role inThe Bad Lord Byron (1949); this was a huge flop at the box-office, and helped kill off the Gainsborough melodrama. Much more successful, both at the box-office and among critics, wasKind Hearts and Coronets (1949), forEaling Films; he played the suave serial murderer Louis Mazzini withAlec Guinness playing his eight relatives.
Price was in a wartime drama,The Lost People (1949). In the same year, he was a guest judge on a BBC radio broadcast of thePiddingtons show. His role was to represent the eyes of listeners as the Piddingtons performed their telepathy act in the Piccadilly studios, and in the Tower of London. He was ensuring that no cheating was going on and overseeing the telepathy tests as a witness.[9]
He was loaned toAssociated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) to make two films: the musicalThe Dancing Years (1950), a sizeable hit; and the thrillerMurder Without Crime (1950), was less successful.
Back at Rank, Price was a villain inThe Adventurers, and was borrowed by20th Century Fox forI'll Never Forget You (both 1951).
He played the lead inLady Godiva Rides Again (1951), and after a cameo inThe Magic Box (1951) he had top billing in a comedy,Song of Paris (1952).
Price supported inThe Tall Headlines (1952) and had the lead in some B-films:Noose for a Lady (1953),Murder at 3am (1953) andTime Is My Enemy (1954). In "A" pictures he was now a supporting actor, with his films includingThe Intruder (1953),For Better, for Worse (1954),That Lady (1955),Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955),Private's Progress (1956),Charley Moon (1956) withMax Bygraves,Port Afrique (1956),A Touch of the Sun (1956),Fortune Is a Woman (1957),The Naked Truth (1957),Danger Within (1959),I'm All Right Jack (1959), andSchool for Scoundrels (1960). He was top billed inDon't Panic Chaps! (1959), a minor comedy made byHammer Films.
In the 1950s, Price appeared in London and New York City in new plays and revivals of classics. It has been suggested that he was the first name actor on television to play a "more or less overtly gay role" inCrime on Our Hands (1954).[10] In 1957, he made his debut inSouth Africa in lead roles inSeparate Tables.[5]
As a radio actor, Price was the original "No. 1" in charge of the crew of HMSTroutbridge in the first series of the long-running radio comedy seriesThe Navy Lark in 1959, but was unable to continue the role in the second series because of other work commitments; he was replaced byStephen Murray. His film appearances from this period includedTunes of Glory (1960) andThe Amorous Prawn[5] (also known asThe Playgirl and the War Minister, 1962). InVictim (1961) he portrayed one of several characters being blackmailed because of their (then illegal) homosexuality. In the horror spoofWhat a Carve Up! (1961) he starred alongsideKenneth Connor,Sid James,Shirley Eaton andDonald Pleasence, while in the science fiction filmThe Earth Dies Screaming (1964) he appeared alongsideWillard Parker andThorley Walters.
In the BBC television seriesThe World of Wooster (1965–67), Price's performance asJeeves was described byThe Times as "an outstanding success",[4] and P. G. Wodehouse said Price had "that essential touch of Jeeves mystery".[3] Working withIan Carmichael asBertie Wooster, this now almost completelylost series[11] was based on the novels and short stories ofP. G. Wodehouse.[5] He also appeared in an episode ofThe Avengers.
In 1967, Price was declaredbankrupt; he attributed his financial distress to "extravagant living and most inadequate gambling". He then moved to thetax haven island ofSark,[12] which coincided with an escalation in hisalcoholism. Towards the end of his life, Price appeared in a series of horror movies includingThe Haunted House of Horror (1969),Twins of Evil (1971),Horror Hospital (1973) andTheatre of Blood (1973), as well as five films directed byJesús Franco. One of his last film appearances was a star-studded version ofAlice in Wonderland (1972) withRalph Richardson,Robert Helpmann,Peter Sellers andDudley Moore, among others.[13] On television, he had recurring roles in theITC seriesJason King (1971) andThe Adventurer (1972).
Price died ofheart failure, complicated by ahip fracture, inGuernsey in 1973, at the age of 58. He was cremated at the Foulon Vale Crematorium, Guernsey, and his ashes were buried outside St. Peter's Anglican Church onSark, next to the traditional burial plot of theSeigneurs of Sark.
In the bookBritish Film Character Actors (1982), Terence Pettigrew wrote that Price's most successful screen characterisations were "refined, self-centred, caddish and contemptuous of a world inhabited by inferiors. Everything about him was deceptive. He could be penniless and still manage to look as if he owned the bank. But behind all that grand talk and lordly ways, there skulked, in his characters, the most ordinary of shabby, grasping souls."[14]
Price was married to the actress Joan Schofield from 1939 to 1950. They had two daughters.[12] Decades after his death, it was claimed that Price was bisexual.[3]
In April 1954, he tried to commit suicide by gas in a London guest house.[15][16] Public sympathy led to a revival of his career and the offer of film roles.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
