Ernest “Ernie” Vincze BSC (1942-2024) was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 25 November 1942. He began his career working for Hungarian state television, where he spent three years photographing documentaries before moving to Britain in 1964. He subsequently made London his home and built a long and distinguished career in British film and television. He died in London on 6 October 2024, aged 81.
Vincze's early experience in documentary filmmaking provided a strong foundation for his later work in drama. He developed a reputation for combining an assured technical command of the camera with a naturalistic photographic style, and his credits would eventually encompass television documentaries, current affairs, drama and feature films.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Vincze worked extensively in British television, photographing documentaries and current-affairs programmes as well as drama. His credits included The South Bank Show, Omnibus and World in Action, alongside a growing body of television drama.
His work on television drama brought early recognition from BAFTA. In 1984 he was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Film Cameraman for Kennedy, the acclaimed miniseries about the life and presidency of John F. Kennedy, starring Martin Sheen.
He continued to work extensively in television during the 1980s, photographing productions including A Very British Coup, Jeeves and Wooster, Screen Two and The South Bank Show. His cinematography on A Very British Coup earned another BAFTA nomination for Best Film Cameraman in 1989.
Vincze also established a substantial feature-film career. His credits included Roseland (1977), James Ivory's multi-story drama set around New York's Roseland Ballroom; Scrubbers (1982); Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986); Shanghai Surprise (1986), starring Madonna and Sean Penn; and Escape from Sobibor (1987).
His work was not confined to first-unit photography. He also undertook second-unit and additional photography and continued to move comfortably between feature films, television drama and documentary-based productions.
Among his later feature and television credits were The Mystic Masseur, Macbeth, Shooting the Past, The House of Angelo, The Strangerers, Big Women, Linda Green, Holby City and Waterloo Road. He photographed numerous episodes of Holby City, demonstrating his continuing involvement in British television well into the new century.
Vincze also made an important contribution to film education. From 2000 to 2002 he was Head of Cinematography at the National Film and Television School, where he taught and influenced a new generation of cinematographers.
His most widely recognised late-career achievement came with the revival of Doctor Who in 2005. Vincze was appointed director of photography for the entire first series, photographing the Ninth Doctor's episodes starring Christopher Eccleston. He subsequently continued with the revived series, sharing the photography across later production blocks with Rory Taylor.
Ernie passed away in 2024.