Stanley Price
Stanley Price was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Career
Price was an actor whose artistic career spanned four different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color. He debuted in the silent movie Your Best Friend, sharing starring duties with Vera Gordon and Harry Benham.
After that, he became a familiar figure, wearing either cowboy rustler outfits or gangster nice suits, particularly in the cliffhanger serials of the 1930s through the early 1950s.
Usually, he served as the assistant or second-in-command for the brains heavy. He usually wore workmanlike duds, did the physical labor, and often had more brawn than morality. Thus, Price went from one chapter to the next trying desperately to kill the hero with fists, knives, guns, bombs or whatever else happened to be handy at the time. Nevertheless, he was another of these loyal henchmen who always seemed to break down and turn into a gutless weasel and outright coward when confronted by the hero.
Eventually, Price was simply a doctor, barkeep, native, reporter, prosecutor, banker, chemist, reporter, psychotic or nobility member, appearing in about 100 westerns and 39 serials. His flair for comedy also was well represented in the film Road to Morocco, as the blithering idiot in the opening bazaar scene, as well in The Three Stooges films Punchy Cowpunchers, Dopey Dicks and Studio Stoops. He also had at least 18 dialogue director credits for Lippert Studios.
Personal
Price was born in Atchison, Kansas. He served in the military in World War I and then acted on stage in the Midwest. He met his wife, Frances Severns, while the two were touring in a production of Abie's Irish Rose. The couple had two children, a son, Stanley Otis, and a daughter, Frances. Price died of a heart attack in Garden Grove, California at age 62. He is buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Selected appearances
Films
Your Best Friend - Harry MeyersThree on a Match - Ace's Henchman Life in the Raw - Petroff's Henchman Her Forgotten Past - Briggs The Miracle Rider Red Barry Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars Daredevils of the Red Circle Dick Tracy's G-Men The Golden Trail Meet John Doe Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals Adventures of Captain Marvel Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. Holt of the Secret Service Johnny Eager Road to Morocco Outlaws of Pine Ridge Perils of the Royal Mounted King of the Mounties Gang Busters Arizona Stage Coach Wild Horse Rustlers Adventures of the Flying Cadets G-men vs. the Black Dragon Batman The Masked Marvel The Phantom Captain America The Tiger Woman The Desert Hawk Black Arrow Zorro's Black Whip Crime, Inc. Sunset in El Dorado The Monster and the Ape Secret Agent X-9 The Crimson Ghost Son of Zorro The Black Widow Brick Bradford Superman Congo Bill Tough Assignment King of the Rocket Men Punchy Cowpunchers The Sundowners Dopey Dicks Studio Stoops The Invisible Monster Pirates of the High Seas Abilene Trail - Sheriff WarnerMan from Sonora - Henchman Spence Dead or Alive - John Meade - OutlawRoaring City - Harry BartonBlazing Bullets - Hawkins - HenchmanNevada Badmen - Deputy EdStagecoach Driver - HenchmanOklahoma Justice - BartenderThe Hills of Utah - Jeffries Lawless Cowboys - JoeTexas Lawmen - Mine Foreman Stage to Blue River - Bill Martin - Postal Inspector Wild Stallion Texas City - 2nd Sergeant Night Raiders - Telegrapher Waco - Sheriff of WacoMan from the Black Hills - Bill ShealeyDead Man's Trail - BlakeMontana Incident - Henchman Wyoming Roundup - Clark JacksonThe Maverick - Rancher Who Quits The Marksman - OutlawRebel City - HerbTopeka - Bank Teller Bitter Creek - Henchman The Forty-Niners - Barfly The Desperado - Witness Two Guns and a Badge - Outlaw Perils of the Wilderness - Henchman Cragg The Ten Commandments - Slave Carrying Load
TV-shows
The Adventures of Kit Carson - Thad StantonBuffalo Bill, Jr. - Telegrapher