Vincent Price’s 5 Best Roles, Ranked

Vincent Price was synonymous with horror. His indelible voice and a piercing stare could topple the characters around him when he played campy and aristocratic villains who, many times, we didn’t want to see get defeated.

Price’s first collaboration with producer and director Roger Corman in adapting the literature of Edgar Allan Poe was House of Usher (1960), but was that his best role in their partnership? I think that honor should go to another Poe adaptation.

This is my ranking of the five best roles of Vincent Price.

5. Witchfinder General (1968)

Vincent Price appears as Matthew Hopkins in the 1968 British historical horror film Witchfinder General ‘Witchfinder General’Credit: Tigon Pictures

Set during the English Civil War of the mid-1600s, men and women are accused of witchcraft by the self-appointed “Witchfinder General,” Matthew Hopkins (Price), who uses religious fanaticism to fuel his reign of terror.

Directed by Michael Reeves, Witchfinder General is loosely based on the real-life Matthew Hopkins, and in the role, Price never brings out the flamboyant wickedness that he could do so well. His depiction of Hopkins is unsettling as we watch a man order the torture and execution of innocent people with cruel indifference.

It’s one of the actor’s best roles, but this bleak movie just isn’t as fun to rewatch as his others.

4. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Professor Ratigan, the main antagonist from Disney's 1986 animated film The Great Mouse Detective ‘The Great Mouse Detective’Credit: Buena Vista Distribution

Price gets to be a Disney villain in this rodent-themed take on Sherlock Holmes, The Great Mouse Detective, adapting the children’s book series, Basil of Baker Street.

As humans go about their day in Victorian London, they are unaware of the animal society that lives by their feet, where a mouse detective goes looking for a toymaker who has been kidnapped by the criminal mastermind Professor Ratigan (Price).

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