David Del Valle, Admired Historian of Horror Films, Dies at 77

He provided commentary for many home video releases and conducted what many consider to be the quintessential Vincent Price interview. David Del Valle, the horror film historian, author, raconteur and Vincent Price fan who contributed to home video commentary tracks, has died at 77. David Del Valle, the encyclopedic horror film historian, author and raconteur who contributed to dozens of laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray commentary tracks during his eclectic career, has died. He was 77. Del Valle died Wednesday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after a battle with esophageal cancer, his caregiver and friend, producer Dano Marino, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was living down the street from the apartment on Harold Way in Los Angeles where Dracula star Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack in 1956.

“The only way out of Harold Way is apparently feet first,” he joked. Del Valle produced and hosted a series of cable TV interviews under the Sinister Image umbrella in which he spoke with the likes of Vincent Price, Cameron Mitchell, Russ Meyer and Curtis Harrington. His hourlong chat with Price in 1987 is considered the most substantial interview the horror legend ever gave. He also wrote the books Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign and Six Reels Under, published in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and articles for Fangoria