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Vincent Price Learned to Cook, Sew, and Mend as a Boy Because His Mother Ran the House Like a “One-Woman Home Economy Class.”

Updated

September 10, 2026

Black-and-white photo of a bearded man in a striped apron and tie holding a carving knife over a large roast on a plate at a kitchen table.

Vincent Price was a horror icon did all the cooking, shopping, and cleanup in his home well into his 70s. He credited his mother for teaching all 4 kids to cook, sew, and mend, and to understand the work behind every meal.

Close-up black-and-white photo of a mustachioed older man smoking a cigarette in a dressing room, reflected in a mirror behind him. — Caught relaxing in his dressing room in 1970, Price holds a cigarette in a close-up that captures a quieter, off-camera side of the cult horror star. Photo by Evening Standard / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

“Well I do all the cooking at home,” Vincent Price said at 75.

He was speaking with Bobbie Wygant at a Home and Garden Show in 1986, decades after he became known for horror films including House of Wax and Theatre of Blood. At the time, he was married to actress Coral Browne. “My wife is an avowed hater of the kitchen, and it’s a good thing she stays out of it too because she’s always in the way,” he said.

Black-and-white portrait of a mustachioed man in a tweed suit and tie, gazing sideways. — A portrait of Vincent Price circa 1961, the horror film legend known for his commanding screen presence and — off-screen — his passion for cooking and domestic arts. Photo by Evening Standard / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

Price liked the entire process, including grocery shopping, which he called “marketing,” and cleaning up. “But I love to cook, and I think a lot of men do like to cook,” he said. “And I love the creative thing about it, I like the relaxing thing about it, I like marketing, I like cleaning up.”

A man eating a snack and holding a drink stands beside a woman in a lace dress also holding a glass, at a cocktail party. — Vincent Price and actress Emma Danieli hold drinks at a cocktail party in February 1963, ahead of filming ‘The Last Man in the World,’ in which they played opposite each other. Photo by Keystone / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

When Wygant asked whether he created his own recipes, he answered, “No, I’m strictly newspaper.” He clipped recipes from Thursday papers, adjusted some, and said, “for the most part I go by the book.”

All 4 children in his family were expected to understand their meals as well as enjoy them. “But we were all taught to appreciate what we ate, to find out how it was made, so that we’d know what hard work it was to make something tasty,” he said. When Wygant suggested his mother was ahead of her time, he replied, “Very much so, very much so.”

A make-up artist in glasses and a white coat applies make-up with a brush to a reclined man wearing a white cape, whose face is heavily covered in pale prosthetic foundation. — Make-up artist Trevor Crole-Rees applies prosthetics to transform Price into the ghoulish Dr. Anton Phibes on the UK set of ‘Dr Phibes Rises Again’ on January 6, 1972. Photo by Evening Standard / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

Food was already a substantial part of his public life. He and his second wife, Mary Grant Price, published A Treasury of Great Recipes in 1965, drawing on dishes from restaurants around the world as well as their own favorites. In 1971, he hosted the 6-part ITV series Cooking Price-Wise, presenting international recipes made with supermarket ingredients.

Vincent Price seated at Thames TV studios in London, 1970 — Vincent Price photographed at Thames TV’s Euston studios in London in July 1970. Photo by Frank Barratt / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

The 1986 segment is circulating again through fan and archive accounts, 40 years after it was recorded.

Meet The Author

January Nelson

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. Her favorite horror movies tend to be more on the artsy side.