Vincent Price as a polar bear

1985 ad for Sun Country Wine Coolers. But why is Vincent Price dressed as a polar bear?

     Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 11, 2015
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Comments
Whatever one has to bear to pay the bills.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/11/15 at 10:47 AM
I love Vincent Price! All those old movies are great. As far as the commercial goes, all actors do them either here or in other countries.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/11/15 at 12:07 PM
Christopher Lee doesn't limit to wine coolers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9se8i4ujs
Posted by Phideaux on 04/11/15 at 12:48 PM
I suspect the answer is two-pronged.
As for why a polar bear, I suppose some ad exec thought it went well with the idea of a refreshing cooler. Who would know more about keeping cool than a polar bear?
As for why Price is in costume, ... there are multiple edits in that ad, so the only time we can be sure the guy in the suit is Vincent Price is the 8 seconds at the end when he removes the head. By 1980, most of the work Vincent Price was doing was voice work, having declared his "retirement" from acting around 1975.
By 1990, when he did Edward Scissorhands, his Parkinson's Disease had progressed to where he could only work about 20 minutes a day before he became unable to control the trembling. Trembling of his limbs would be easily covered by the polar bear suit.

So, I suspect the reason Vincent Price is wearing a polar bear suit is the combination of the suit making it easy to conceal his illness and some ad exec thinking it was clever.

For his work hosting Mystery, I assume they handled it much the way Tim Burton did for Edward Scisorhands: set up the cameras and everything, and we go when Mr. Price says he's ready. Also, Mystery often used close-ups of the host where the hands were out of shot.

I doubt Price did the ad because he was poor. I suspect rather he yearned to work, and would take whatever he could get. Ads are fairly easy work, especially if your concern is that you can only work a few hours a day.
Posted by SpyOne on 04/11/15 at 09:51 PM
Yea, all that may be true but I got to use the pun! :lol:
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/12/15 at 12:55 AM
Yah baby! Its all about the puns! :coolgrin:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/12/15 at 11:38 AM
At least it's better than Patty doing her sex "Furry" costume fetish.
Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 04/12/15 at 07:19 PM
We want details BD?
If it is a cat costume, we know it is not cougar.
But is it a friendly pussy cat or a wild snow leopard?
Posted by BMN on 04/12/15 at 07:30 PM
You boys have vivid imaginations.(prrr)
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/12/15 at 09:17 PM
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