# Vincent Price dialect (including vid clip) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769 "2025-02-02T18:28:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/1 "2025-02-02T18:28:33Z")
Here is an interview on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 1974, just as an example xttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZwTYPv359U What i am wondering about is, he was born in Missouri, but in all hes interviews and maybe most of his movies, he sounds like a quasi englishman. Is that a normal dialect for Missuourians, or is it some thing he put on? It sounds very weird for me as an anglophile. In the link change the x to a h ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/2 "2025-02-02T18:30:17Z")
I imagine he took elocution lessons when he wanted to be an actor. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/3 "2025-02-02T18:30:55Z")
Mid Atlantic dialect that many actors had. > The Mid-Atlantic dialect, also known as the Transatlantic accent, is a blend of British and American English. It was popular among American actors in the 1930s and was taught at some elite schools. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/4 "2025-02-02T18:31:11Z")
But surely it sounds odd the way he speaks? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/5 "2025-02-02T18:33:41Z")
It seems like a version of the transatlantic accent and considering he was from Missouri–it was an affectation. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/6 "2025-02-02T18:37:58Z")
To me it sounds like he is trying to speak british. What a charming guy, though! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/7 "2025-02-02T18:41:38Z")
Actors generally considered to have the Mid-Atlantic dialect include Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant (who was actually English), Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell, Grace Kelly and Claude Rains among others. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/8 "2025-02-02T19:07:49Z")
I dont accept this, it is something different. Obvious i think. Is there something gay about it, his dialect? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/9 "2025-02-02T19:47:44Z")
It would be incorrect to assume that Midwesterners of a century ago would speak clearly or even mellifluous yet stentorian, as simply an affectation; what’s been reduced to the misnomer “Tranatlantic.” That was an era when leaders of society were expected to have studied deeply of the Humanities and the Classics as at least their entrance qualification, not just crunching numbers and divining opinion polls like today. For Midwestern statesmen especially, their speaking styles were an odd combination of Shakespeare and Billy Sunday. Based on the belief that if a person proved they could say what they meant, they meant what they said. Some examples were Wisconsinites [Robert LaFollette](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GJcefWWlzH8&pp=ygUYUm9iZXJ0IGxhZm9sbGV0dGUgc3BlZWNo) and [Douglas MacArthur,](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JKYp1QrYEVM&pp=ygUYZG91Z2xhcyBtYWNhcnRodXIgc3BlZWNo) Nebraskan [William Jennings Bryan](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QG9cR4ONP_4&pp=ygUcd2lsbGlhbSBqZW5uaW5ncyBicnlhbiB2b2ljZQ%3D%3D). Roosevelt’s fireside chats were the rare case of when this manner of speech worked well into the new ange electronic media, after which stage actors and politicians would have to adapt and tone it down. Illinois Senator [Everett Dirksen](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Au2-J-3on0&pp=ygUPZXZlcmV0dCBkaXJrc2Vu) couldn’t shed it, and was dubbed “the Wizard of Ooze.” Reagan, trained in radio, movies and not at all the stage, used the modified version of it into the 80’s, but to some (and by “some” I mean the actually educated listeners, not the rubes) he sounded phony. And to be sure: Vincent Price employed his craft in the service of Camp, on Batman and in Roger Corman quickies, etc. But I want to present two examples of it that I believe still hold up today. One is the archaic reading of [Rudyard Kipling’s “Boots,”](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_(poem)) the 1915 version [all rolling Rs and clipped consonants](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P-sc0VcQwvQ&pp=ygUNYm9vdHMga2lwbGluZw%3D%3D) The other is of Urbain (“Mr. Zero”) Ledoux, America’s St. Francis of Assisi, greeting and encouraging the patrons of his soup kitchen in the Great Depression; talking kindly to men he must have known wouldn’t survive the next winter. Skip ahead to the part of the video and although it sounds so old fashioned, he’s entirely sincere and not at all condescending while using language we nowadays equate with snooty dowagers played by Margaret Dumont. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7b-T2IqHU8Q/hqdefault.jpg "THE GREAT DEPRESSION - BOWERY SOUP KITCHEN WITH URBAIN LEDOUX") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b-T2IqHU8Q) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/10 "2025-02-02T19:48:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Actors generally considered to have the Mid-Atlantic dialect include Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant (who was actually English), Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell, Grace Kelly and Claude Rains among others. Errol Flynn as well. I tried but I’ve never found an example of him speaking like he’s from Australia or more accurately Tasmania. He always had an affected Mid-Atlantic dialect. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/11 "2025-02-02T21:57:34Z")
What does that even mean? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/12 "2025-02-02T22:16:05Z")
You know, lighthearted, fancy-free! Mothers, lock up your daughters - Vincent is on the town! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/13 "2025-02-02T22:53:20Z")
> [@Loggins](#): > > What a charming guy, though! A classy dude, for certain. 😍 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/14 "2025-02-02T23:06:56Z")
> [@Loggins](#): > > I dont accept this, it is something different. Obvious i think. Is there something gay about it, his dialect? That’s never been rumored. The closest to anything like it was when, alluding to his financial treatment by Michael Jackson (contrasting sharply against Alice Cooper’s generous treatment of Price), when asked about Jackson’s being accused of pedophilia said “I don’t know but he sure fucked me!” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/15 "2025-02-02T23:13:43Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > That’s never been rumored. I’m finding a number of claims, including from Price’s daughter (herself a lesbian), that he was bisexual. Has absolutely nothing to do with his way of speaking, of course. > **[Vincent Price's Daughter Confirms Father's Bisexuality](https://www.boom.lgbt/vincent-price-daughter-confirms-father-s-bisexuality)** > > In her book, ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/16 "2025-02-02T23:21:40Z")
Someone asked the exact same question here in 2015. > [@Vincent Price's voice: how and why?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-prices-voice-how-and-why/741804): > > How did Vincent Price’s wonderfully distinctive way of speaking (I hesitate to call it a dialect) come about? Has there ever been anything like it? I know he came from St Louis, Missouri. Did people there speak that way when he was growing up? Does anyone there speak that way now and not get sent away for psychiatric evaluation? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/17 "2025-02-02T23:29:36Z")
I think the best adjective for Price’s accent is “oily” It’s a manner that he emphasized more and more as he started to be typecast as a villain or creepy character, and by the 1960s was high camp (which doesn’t necessarily have to telegraph as gay). This was surely part of his actor’s tool kit and wouldn’t have been nearly as pronounced if he had chosen a career as a St. Louis barber. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/18 "2025-02-03T05:42:05Z")
Ok this is more like i meant by “gay”. I like your oily and “camp” explanation. Although, i still think he sounds like a would be englishman… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/19 "2025-02-03T05:58:22Z")
> [@Loggins](#): > > Although, i still think he sounds like a would be englishman… That was pretty much the point of the Mid-Atlantic accent. Price didn’t sound exactly like some of the other actors and socialites who affected it, but his accent is certainly in the neighborhood of it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769/20 "2025-02-03T06:49:45Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > A classy dude, for certain. 😍 Very knowledgeable about art and owned an extensive collection. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-price-dialect-including-vid-clip/1013769.md?page=2)