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Tony Scott, English director of Top Gun, True Romance, Crimson Tide, and about a million other things, the younger brother of Ridley Scott, apparently committed suicide Sunday by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Long Beach. Pictured above with his wife, Donna, who once played a fembot in Austin Powers – they have two kids – Scott couldn’t have been planning this long, considering he had no less than twenty-nine in-development credits on IMDB.
Scott, 68, climbed a fence on the south side of the bridge’s apex and leapt off “without hesitation” around 12:30 p.m., according to the Coroner’s Department and port police.
A suicide note was found inside Scott’s black Toyota Prius, which was parked on one of the eastbound lanes of the bridge, said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Jennifer Osburn.
Officers with port police, the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol joined city firefighters and the Coast Guard in searching the water for his body.
Cargo vessels moved at slow speeds through the east side of the Main Channel during the search, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
“It’s a dolorous task and we’re working to treat the deceased with the utmost dignity and respect,” Humphrey said.
Authorities used sonar equipment to track the man in the port’s murky waters and his body was recovered by a dive team around 4:30 p.m., Alva said. Scott’s body was taken to a dock in Wilmington and turned over to the county coroner.
Erected in 1963, the 6,060-foot bridge links San Pedro with Terminal Island and rises 185 feet at its highest point above the Main Channel of Los Angeles Harbor. Many have taken their lives by jumping from the span. [DailyBreeze]
Yikes. A lesser showman might’ve left his car running in the garage (well, not a Prius) or taken too many pills. I don’t know if he was depressed about getting old or infirm, but still being able to climb fences at 68 seems pretty good to me. If I had to pick my favorite Tony Scott movie, it’s probably between Crimson Tide and The Last Boy Scout. But it’s crappy news any way you cut it, and it’s probably going to be a long time before any “missile the size of the Chrysler Building” jokes are funny again. This is a “bummer the size of the Chrysler Building,” maybe? I’m sorry, I’m terrible at this. This is really crappy.
Apparently Scott had scouted the bridge as a location for a Warriors remake he wanted to produce, he talked about it in an MTV interview in 2005.
More news as it comes. This definitely isn’t helping refute those star wackers theories.
Picture credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
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That’s really a shame. RIP
Now he’s off to that homoerotic volleyball game in the sky
RIP for real. I was raised on his work. I’m watching Last Boy Scout tonight while I get drunk. Fuck, dude.
The Last Boy Scout stopped on the Highway to the Danger Zone and left a Crimson Tide.
This sucks and all but I’m glad he went in such an open and visible to the public way. If this shit happened in private and was in any way asphyxia related my first suspect would’ve been dem tittays.
RIP Tony. He finally saw the MiG.
Having brought beach volleyball to England in the Olympics, Tony Scott’s work was complete.
Spy Game and True Romance are my favorite Tony Scott films. A very capable director, he’ll be missed.
Yeah, True Romance is probably my favorite, but thinking about it just reminds me how much I’d have rather seen Tarantino direct it.
Vince, I wouldn’t be so sure of that. The original script was written in that mixed up PULP FICTION style which, while it worked great for that movie, would probably not have been as effective for TRUE ROMANCE.
Scott made the story linear and directed, without question, his best movie.
Definitely +1 for True Romance. I think everyone has a Road House relationship with Top Gun though.
And we also have Tarantino interpretation of Scott:
[www.youtube.com]
‘Ain’t life a bitch…’
RIP Mr. Awesome
I guess Crimson Tide is no longer just a metaphor.
For a 68 year old man the Toyota Prius is the suicide note.
From Jets to a prius…
I hope he gets good recognition, this mans works makes up 20% of my movie collection. . . RIP
He’s going home, to Blue Bayou.
This is messed up. I’m still trying to figure out a reason. The only one I can come up with is terminal illness. But still…fuck.
The only thing I can come up with is
terminal illnessTerminal Island.COTW for Dingus.
Damn this sucks. I heard a rumor he had an inoperable brain tumor but I don’t really know.
I was wondering if drugs or alcohol had a part in it, but that makes sense if that’s true.
I can recall seeing an interview with him was on some documentary about all the British advertising talent that migrated to Hollywood in the ’70s. He was one of those larger than life. cocky, cigar chomping fellas that’s easy to like. On the same doc his brother, SIr Ridley, mentioned how Tony initially just wanted to make serious films but was convinced to go to Hollywood, had made it and was driving a Ferrari. So what’s with the fucking Prius?
I guess The Warriors remake is on the backburner.
Well, this news really blows.
It’s the way he always wanted to go: rich and with an enormous-bosomed wife twenty years his junior.
He was always one of my favourites in Hollywood, perhaps even more so than his brother. This is a fucking shame.
This is just awful news. He was one of my personal favorite directors. He always made such dumb fun movies. True Romance and Man on Fire were my favorites. RIP Tony.
I don’t know which I’m more shocked by. Tony Scott taking his own life, or a spokesman for the LAFD using the “dolorous” in an official statement.
RIP Tony.
I’ve never seen much of his work but still, shocking news to wake up to on a monday morning.
I had a friend who was a P.A. on Unstoppable and one of his most important tasks was making runs to the liquor store to buy Belvedere vodka which Tony drank on the rocks throughout the entire day while directing. I thought that was pretty bad ass.
Honestly, I feel once you hit 60 you have the right to punch your clock whenever you damn well please. I am sure there are inspirational old people that are pissed off with that statement, but fuck you and rot to death you old fucks. Let people live and die as they see fit just like you do.
I think once you’ve had children you should be allowed to check out, sort of like a salmon.
I did not realize how big a fan I was until I IMDB’d him. True Romance was the first thing that came to mind (I loved that flick), but damn he’s got a list. I always felt like more of a Ridley fan, but they’re starting to look more equal to me now.
Witnesses say he was clad with a scarf and set of aviation goggles, Kenny Loggins’ “Dangerzone” blasting out of the after-market system on his Prius as he got a running start and cleared the fence, arms outstretched and making airplane noises with his mouth the whole way down.
R.I.P Tony Scott
Wait… Tony Stark is dead?
Damn, you would have thought he would have gone out in an over the top explosion or some shit.
That’s how Michael Bay will go out. Driving off the bridge as the car explodes.
Bay’s funeral will have explosions you can see from space.
I still think Man on Fire should have been a Richard Pryor biopic.
Not shocking that The Last Boy Scout is one of your favorite movies. Though you probably watched it expecting something much different.