‘Top Gun’ Director Tony Scott Dead at 68
Movie director Tony Scott, whose credits include Top Gun and Crimson Tide, died Sunday after jumping from a bridge over Los Angeles Harbor, Reuters reports. He was 68.
Witnesses saw Scott park his car on the Vincent Thomas Bridge and jump 185 feet into the water at about 12:30 p.m. The police recovered his body just before 3 p.m. Authorities found a note in Scott’s car, though the contents have not been disclosed.
The British-born Scott, younger brother of Ridley Scott, directed more than two dozen movies and television shows. He got his start making TV commercials for his brother’s English production company, then branched into movies. His first feature film, the 1983 vampire movie The Hunger, starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. It flopped, but Scott made an enduring contribution to pop culture three years later with Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise as a cocky fighter pilot, and followed with another hit in 1987’s Beverly Hills Cop II.
Scott also directed Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State. He frequently worked with Denzel Washington, who appeared in Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, a remake of The Taking of the Pelham 1 2 3 and 2010’s Unstoppable.
Along with his older brother, Scott was an executive producer of the CBS shows Numb3rs and The Good Wife.
He is survived by his third wife, Donna, and their two children.