Rest in peace, Tony!

I am quite certain that Vincent Winter, who was "Tony" in "Almost Angels", never knew of the impact his work in that film had on many people. Over and over I hear people say that "Almost Angels" was their first introduction to the Vienna Choir Boys-- and to boychoir singing.

Vincent was born December 29, 1947. He died on November 2, 1998, near London, of a heart attack, at the age of 50.

At a much younger age, Vincent was the child actor who charmed audiences in the 1953 British film, "The Kidnappers". It was a story of two orphaned boys who were sent to live with their grandfather in Nova Scotia. Vincent received a special miniature Academy Award for his performance as the six-year-old in the film.

He also starred in the 1959 monster movie "Gorgo" and the 1963 fantasy "The Three Lives of Thomasina". ("Gorgo" was really a terrible movie, but not because of Vincent. By the time he did "Thomasina" his voice had changed.) His other film credits include "Greyfriars' Bobby", and "The Horse Without a Head".

Early in 1998 he was invited to Hollywood for a group photograph of former Oscar winners. In his adult life, Vincent worked behind the cameras, serving as a production assistant on Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" in 1971 and Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" in 1989.

I tried several times to locate Vincent because I wanted to know all he remembered about his work in the Augarten Palace, around Vienna, and with the "real" Vienna Choir Boys of that day. If there is a Heaven, perhaps we will still have a chance to discuss it someday.

---Gene Bitner, 1/22/00

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