American Cinematographer - November 2017 - 85

IN MEMORIAM

Vincent G. Cox, ASC, SASC, 1933-2017

"I did not break into the business," Vincent G. Cox, ASC, SASC
told American Cinematographer for
the April 2007 issue. "I tripped and
fell, and rather like a duckling takes
to water, I swam."
Cox, who passed away over
the summer, had been an active
member of the ASC since July 5,
1977, after having been proposed
for membership by Society members
Eric Horvitch and David Millin. The
following remembrance was submitted by Cox's friend and associate
Lionel Friedberg, a Los Angeles-based cinematographer, producer and bestselling
author.
***
Director of photography Vincent
George Cox, ASC, SASC passed away in
Johannesburg on July 30, 2017, at the age
of 83. One of only three ASC members to
permanently reside in South Africa, he was
not only a supremely talented cinematographer but a remarkable innovator and pioneer
who helped forge an industry on a continent
during changing and challenging times.
Born in Johannesburg on Oct. 17,
1933, Cox was educated at King Edward VII
School before joining the film-processing
labs and then the camera department at the
Killarney Film Studios in Johannesburg in the
early '50s. He worked as a gofer and then a
clapper-loader and focus puller on many
feature films, including some of the studio's
early Afrikaans-language productions, some
of which were the first to be shot in color.
In the mid-'50s, Cox went to England
to gain further experience in the industry and
worked in uncredited roles as loader and
focus puller on such productions as director
Roy Ward Baker's A Night to Remember
(1958), on which he served under Geoffrey
Unsworth, BSC. He also worked on filmed
TV series including Dial 999, The Adventures
of Robin Hood and The Saint.
After returning to South Africa, Cox

freelanced as a camera assistant and operator on numerous productions, including
Satanskoraal (Satan's Coral) in 1959 for
legendary local producer and multi-hyphenate filmmaker Jamie Uys (best known for
The Gods Must Be Crazy).
In 1962, Cox returned to the U.K. to
expand his career and worked on a variety
of feature films and television shows before
again returning to South Africa in 1965,
where he got his first credit as director of
photography on the drama-comedy King
Hendrik for director Emil Nofal. This led to a
long and productive relationship with Nofal
and with Jans Rautenbach, two of South
Africa's outstanding directorial talents at
that time. The films he photographed
during this period included the romantic
adventure Wild Season (1967), directed by
Nofal and produced by Rautenbach, as well
as the political thriller Die Kandidaat (The
Candidate, 1968) and the sophisticated
sociopolitical drama Katrina (1969), both
directed by Rautenbach and produced by
Nofal; Katrina remains a classic of
apartheid-era South African cinema, while
Die Kandidaat was a showcase of Cox's
extraordinary gift for creating mood with
low light at a time when film stocks and
lenses were slow and unforgiving.
He invested in his own equipment
and used his immaculately restored Mitchell
NC camera in a Raby blimp to shoot numerous features during the 1960s and '70s. A
stickler for all things mechanical and optical,
www.ascmag.com

he loved engines, lenses and precision-engineered equipment - a
passion that he extended to restoring vintage cars, boats and aircraft.
He held a private pilot's license and
often flew the skies of Africa in his
own beautifully maintained de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane and Chipmunk monoplane trainer aircraft.
During the 1970s, his skills and
talents were noticed by producers
and directors from London and
Hollywood, and he was engaged to
shoot many international productions that were shooting on location in
Africa, beginning in 1970 with Creatures the
World Forgot for director Don Chaffey. This
led to location-unit work on international
features such as Killer Force (aka The
Diamond Mercenaries, 1976) and Zulu
Dawn (1979), as well as first-unit cinematography duties on Flashpoint Africa
(1980), Rage to Kill (1988), Space Mutiny
(1988), Act of Piracy (1988), Any Man's
Death (1990), Terminator Woman (1993),
The Secret Force (1995), The Last
Leprechaun (1998), Merlin: The Return
(2000) and The Sorcerer's Apprentice
(2001).
Always cool, calm and collected
under the most adverse circumstances,
Cox's friendly disposition and reassuring
smile were a calming influence on both cast
and crew. Among the scores of films and
television productions he worked on -
including during an extensive period in
Hollywood during the mid-1980s - he
photographed a number of features for
directors David Lister and Paul Matthews.
Cox is survived by his second wife,
producer Debi Cox (née Nethersole), and
four children: Vinca, Gitta, Lars and Macaire,
all of whom professionally entered the
industry.
For more about Cox, and to read his
ASC Close-Up from the April 2007 issue of
AC, visit bit.ly/VincentGCox.
●
November 2017

http://www.bit.ly/VincentGCox http://www.ascmag.com

American Cinematographer - November 2017

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