Movie Villain, Real-Life Good Guy

Longtime readers will know that I am a big Vincent Price fan.  Vincent Price was a deliciously hammy actor who camped up tons of low-budget horror movies, relishing the roles of aristocratic villains... diabolical noblemen, well-bred mad scientists, vengeance-seeking scholars.  

Though typically a villain onscreen, Vincent Price was a good guy in real life.  He recorded public service announcements denouncing racism and religious bigotry, and, a polyamorous bisexual, supported LGB (I have no doubt he'd have publicly supported transpersons' rights if it were a more well-known issue in the 1970s) rights, criticizing homophobic bigot Anita Bryant for spreading harmful propaganda.

As if Price weren't awesome enough, here we have a Twitter thread, via Wonkette, detailing his championing of Native American art and artists:

For 14 years, Vincent Price served on the Indian Arts & Crafts Committee to promote the economic development of Indigenous artists. He established the first creative writing award for Indigenous students, and insisted on using his interview with Johnny Carson to read their poems. pic.twitter.com/XCqd4ebeix

— Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) October 12, 2021

A noted art collector, Mr Price 'curated' a line of inexpensive art prints for Sears, to make fine art accessible for Joe and Jane Schmo, and he made sure that indigenous artists were represented. He and his wife endowed the free Vincent Price Art Museum in East Los Angeles, with a progressive, humanistic mission to provide artistic education for students and the general public:  

The mission of the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College is to serve as a unique educational resource for the diverse audiences of the college and the community through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts. 

It's always great to see that the individuals you are a fan of are decent, kindly people... even when they are known for their over-the-top, campy villainy.