Born as Vincent Leonard Price Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, he was the son of Vincent Price, Sr. and Marguerite Willcox. His family claimed their ancestry traced back to the Mayflower pilgrims. His father owned the National Candy Company, specializing in the manufacture of jellybeans and jawbreakers, and Vincent was raised in an affluent home. From a young age he enjoyed cooking and art.

At age 16, he was allowed to travel solo in Europe, where he visited the great art galleries of the Old World, inspiring his intention to become an art historian. His formal education was accomplished at Yale (degrees in Art History and English), the University of London (Masters in Fine Arts) and Nuremberg University. In 1933, Vincent took a job at the Riverdale School in New York, teaching and helping out with odd jobs. In 1934 he decided to go back to school, and enrolled at the Courtauld Institute of the University of London.

His love of theatre had been building over the past few years, and he had participated in a few bit parts. In 1935 he took a spot in the Gate Theatre's production of Chicago. His next play was Victoria Regina, and he did some summer stock work as well. After Victoria Regina wrapped up in London, the play was going to debut in New York. Price was asked to reprise his role in the stateside performances. He agreed, and returned to the US.

He continued to do theatre work in preparation for his Hollywood debut. When he felt he was ready, he went back to Hollywood and took a role in his first film, Service De Luxe. Vincent signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. He and wife Edith split in 1944, but reconciled in 1946. Unfortunately, things were not to work out, and the couple split for good in 1947. In 1949, Vincent remarried, this time to Eleanor Mary Grant. The two honeymooned in Peru, and then settled into their Los Angeles home.

In 1951, the actor and his second wife founded the Vincent Price Gallery and Art Foundation on the campus of the East Los Angeles Community College. He donated some ninety pieces to establish the first "teaching art collection" owned by a community college in America, and continued to contribute, with the help of other patrons.

In 1953, he made the picture that is perhaps his most famous, House of Wax. Following that film, he did others such as The House on Haunted Hill and The Fly. It was from this period that Price became known for his horror movies.

In early 1960, he began a relationship with American International Pictures that would produce some of his best known films. In 1961, he was approached to join the White House Art Committee under Jackie Kennedy. Price continued to do film, and even began a partnership with Sears department stores, creating the Vincent Price Collection of art collectibles.

In the mid 1970s, avid gourmet chef Vincent presented a cooking program for television. His career as a tv chef occupied him throughout several series. He also found time to write books, including cookbooks, such as A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965) and The Come into the Kitchen Cook Book (1969), both done with his second wife, Mary Grant.

Price continued to do film, television, and theatre throughout the 60's and 70's. In 1973, Mary Price filed for divorce. Vincent had fallen in love with another actress, Coral Browne, and the two married in 1974. Vincent's career continued, and in 1980 he began to host Mystery! for television (which he did for the next 10 years).

Throughout the 1980's, Price continued to be appreciated for his work on and off the screen. He also did many ads for various products including Hangman, Citibank, and Isuzu. Sadly, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Vincent died in Los Angeles from Parkinson's and lung cancer. His ashes were scattered at sea.

Although he had in his lifetime three wives and fathered a son and a daughter, speculation and rumor persist that Price might have been gay, or at least bisexual. Price's third wife, Coral Browne, was known as one of the theater's biggest "fag hags," counting Cecil Beaton, Noel Coward, Somerset Maughm, and other well known homosexuals among her male friends, and even rumored to be herself a lesbian.

To give the matter an even further gay bent, Price's gardener for a time was none other than gay porn star Fred Halsted. When writing the biography of her father, Victoria Price acknowledged that rumors about her father's bisexuality did exist.