Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose-Price was born into a military family. From public school he went to Oxford where he got involved in the Drama Society. From there it was a short step to rep and the West End. War put a temporary halt to his acting career and he joined the Royal Artillery from which he was invalided out in 1942.
His film career began with A Canterbury Tale though he may have been an extra in No Parking before the war. In his first couple of roles he was sensitive, caring and a little dull; but it wasn't long before he found his casting niche as an elegant cad. The disaster that was The Bad Lord Byron put an end to any idea that he was matinee idol material.
His performance in Kind Hearts and Coronets is the one for which he'll be most remembered. His suave murderer, barely concealing his contempt for his victims behind a veneer of good manners, is one of the iconic figures in British cinema. Alec Guinness may have the multi-role gimmick, but it's Price who holds the film together. He never got a role this good again, but then who did?
After this highpoint, his career rattled along busily while his personal life took a battering. He divorced in 1950, made a suicide attempt in the mid-fifties and went bankrupt in the early sixties. His heavy drinking and homosexuality seem to be the cause of most of his personal problems.
He scored a big hit on TV playing Jeeves in The World of Wooster, while at the same time his film career declined into bit parts in horror films. He died of cirrhosis of the liver.
There are some who think Price's career was a bit of a disappointment, and maybe Price was among them. He described himself as "a second-rate feature actor. I am not a star and never was... I lack the essential spark". Certainly the last few years of his CV are a bit of an embarrassment, but he managed to continue working long after most of his contemporaries were forgotten. And how many second-rate feature actors are as memorable as Dennis Price?
| 1937 | No Parking |
| 1943 | A Canterbury Tale |
| 1944 | A Place of One's Own |
| 1945 | The Echo Murders |
| 1946 | Hungry Hill |
| 1946 | Caravan |
| 1947 | The White Unicorn |
| 1947 | The Magic Bow |
| 1947 | Dear Murderer |
| 1947 | Jassy |
| 1947 | Holiday Camp |
| 1947 | Master of Bankdam |
| 1948 | The Bad Lord Byron |
| 1948 | Easy Money |
| 1948 | Snowbound |
| 1948 | Good Time Girl |
| 1949 | Helter Skelter |
| 1949 | Kind Hearts and Coronets |
| 1949 | The Lost People |
| 1950 | The Dancing Years |
| 1950 | Murder Without Crime |
| 1950 | The Adventurers |
| 1951 | The Magic Box |
| 1951 | Lady Godiva Rides Again |
| 1951 | The House in the Square |
| 1952 | Song of Paris |
| 1952 | Tall Headlines |
| 1953 | Noose for a Lady |
| 1953 | Murder at 3 a.m. |
| 1953 | The Intruder |
| 1954 | Time is my Enemy |
| 1954 | For Better, For Worse |
| 1955 | That Lady |
| 1955 | Oh... Rosalinda!! |
| 1955 | Account Closed |
| 1956 | Private's Progress |
| 1956 | Charley Moon |
| 1956 | Port Afrique |
| 1956 | A Touch of the Sun |
| 1957 | Fortune is a Woman |
| 1958 | Hello London |
| 1958 | The Naked Truth |
| 1959 | I'm All Right, Jack |
| 1959 | Don't Panic Chaps |
| 1959 | Danger Within |
| 1960 | Oscar Wilde |
| 1960 | Piccadilly Third Stop |
| 1960 | Tunes of Glory |
| 1960 | The Millionairess |
| 1960 | The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's |
| 1960 | School for Scoundrels |
| 1961 | No Love for Johnny |
| 1961 | The Rebel |
| 1961 | Five Golden Hours |
| 1961 | Double Bunk |
| 1961 | Watch It Sailor! |
| 1961 | Victim |
| 1961 | What a Carve Up! |
| 1962 | Go to Blazes |
| 1962 | Play It Cool |
| 1962 | Behave Yourself |
| 1962 | The Pot Carriers |
| 1962 | The Amorous Prawn |
| 1962 | The Wrong Arm of the Law |
| 1963 | Kill or Cure |
| 1963 | The Cool Mikado |
| 1963 | The VIPs |
| 1963 | The Cracksman |
| 1963 | Doctor in Distress |
| 1963 | Tamahine |
| 1963 | The Comedy Man |
| 1964 | A Jolly Bad Fellow |
| 1964 | Wonderful Life |
| 1964 | The Horror of it All |
| 1964 | The Earth Dies Screaming |
| 1965 | The Eighth Witness |
| 1965 | Murder Most Foul |
| 1965 | The Curse of Simba |
| 1965 | A High Wind in Jamaica |
| 1966 | Ten Little Indians |
| 1966 | Just Like a Woman |
| 1967 | Rocket to the Moon |
| 1969 | The Haunted House of Horror |
| 1970 | Venus in Furs |
| 1970 | The Magic Christian |
| 1970 | The Horror of Frankenstein |
| 1970 | The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer |
| 1970 | Some Will - Some Won't |
| 1971 | Vampyos lesbos |
| 1971 | Twins of Evil |
| 1972 | Pulp |
| 1972 | The Horror of Snape Island |
| 1972 | Dracula Vs Frankenstein |
| 1972 | Les Experiences erotiques de Frankenstein |
| 1972 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| 1972 | That's Your Funeral |
| 1972 | Go for a Take |
| 1972 | The Adventures of Barry McKenzie |
| 1973 | Theatre of Blood |
| 1973 | Horror Hospital |
| 1974 | Son of Dracula |
| 1974 | Quartier de Femmes |
