This week, the world lost a big personality who lived among us in Hampton Roads. Film critic Mal Vincent passed away on November 27, 2021 at the age of 83.
Danny Epperson was a close friend and producer for Mal’s podcast, “Mal’s World.” He said the walls of Mal’s house were covered in personally autographed photos from Hollywood royalty across the decades.
“From Charlton Heston to Jodie Foster to Peter Falk to Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, I mean, just the list goes on, Tom Hanks, just so many of them,” Danny remembers.
Long before they worked together, Danny read Mal’s theater and movie reviews in the Virginian-Pilot, where Mal started in the 1960s.
“I grew up just knowing Mal for movies and stars,” he said. “I was a movie-loving teenager and I’d read his reviews in the Virginian Pilot. I read his review of Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier. He tore that film to shreds along with my Star Trek loving heart. Danny later determined that Mal was right about that film.
Danny said Mal’s stories of the “who’s who” in Hollywood history will always stand out in his memory.
“He would put his personality on top of theirs and try to impersonate them,” he said. “It was gold when it came to producing for him.”
People across Hampton Roads knew Mal Vincent for his larger-than-life personality.
“Mal was just about the biggest personality in this area," according to Thom Vourlas of Naro Cinema. "We have different people on TV and radio that are well-known and all, but Mal was certainly a personality -- and people loved him.”
Mal loved to tell, and re-tell, the stories of his encounters with Hollywood’s finest. His critiques could have a sharp edge, but Danny remembers Mal as a man with a soft heart.
“A critic sometimes can be looked at as harsh and brazen, but I could really feel that he had a soft heart, that he genuinely cared,” Danny said. “I enjoyed hearing his off-Hollywood stories -- the times when he was a young boy in North Carolina, what times were like then for him growing up, his adventures and travels with his sister, his opinions on life and people and everything outside the movies. It was interesting to hear that.”
Danny, like many others, will miss hearing Mal’s outrageous stories and in-depth critiques. The summers at the cinema won’t be the same without his movie series. But, just because we won’t hear the stories anymore, doesn’t mean they will be forgotten.
“I will continue to share the stories that he shared with me,” Danny said. “The ones that made me laugh, the ones that made me think differently, or look at movie stars as just people .… and when I go to the movies, I'm still gonna save him a seat.”
Mal’s name will grace the marquee of the Naro Cinema for a time and friends and fans alike can visit and take a moment to remember a Hampton Roads giant.
“There'll be no other person like Mal ever,” said Vourlas. “He's the end of an era, as we say on the marquee.”