Stanley Price (December 31, 1892 – July 13, 1955) 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.[1]
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 (
William Nigh, 1922), sharing starring duties with Vera Gordon and
Harry Benham.[2]
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.[3]