Tony Scott 1944-2012

The tragic death of Top Gun director Tony Scott has left Hollywood and his home country of England reeling. The 68 year-old director jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which spans San Pedro and Terminal Island in Long Beach at around 12:30 yesterday. His body was recovered a few hours later.

As with all suicides, those left behind are filled with questions. Mostly, or course, is why. It had been revealed that Scott did leave a note in his car, and what was contained in that is unknown, however, word has broke today that the director was facing inoperable brain cancer. If this bares out, perhaps his family can come to some solace that knowing that his time was limited, he took his fate into his own hands. Then again, I maybe wrong. But based on his style of filming and editing, Scott took the lead in everything.

Tony Scott, younger brother to Oscar winning director Ridley Scott, shot to fame in the 1980's with the cult hit The Hunger in 1982, which he followed up with the huge hit Top Gun, released in 1985. He went on to helm Beverly Hills Cop II, Revenge, reteaming with Tom Cruise for Days of Thunder in 1990, True Romance in 1993, and Crimson Tide in 1995, the first of five eventual films where Scott worked with Oscar winner Denzel Washington, with their last collaborations being 2010's Unstoppable with Star Trek's Chris Pine.

Through the production company formed with his brother, Scott Free, he was executive produced the CBS series Numbers and The Good Wife. He also executive produced the upcoming A&E miniseries remake of Robin Cook's Coma.

Tributes flooded in as soon as word began breaking late Sunday afternoon and into early evening: 

Actress Keira Knightley, who starred in his 2005 film Domino, said: "Tony Scott was one of the most extraordinary, imaginative men I ever worked with. It was a privilege to have spent the time I did with him. He was a fire cracker and one of the world's true originals."

Duncan Jones, director of Source Code and Moon, said: "Just heard about Tony Scott news. Horrible... Tony was a truly lovely man who took me under his wing & ignited my passion to make films."

Top Gun star Val Kilmer said "RIP Tony. You were the kindest film director I ever worked for. You will be missed." 

Saving Private Ryan actor Adam Goldberg - who starred opposite Denzel Washington in Scott's 2006 sci-fi film Deja Vu - wrote on his blog: "Tony Scott was one of the, if not the, warmest and most generous directors for whom I've ever worked. I was constantly astounded by his ability to balance the massive weight of his movies with unsparing respect and love for his actors and crew all the way down the line. I'll miss you man."

Tributes from David Krumholtz and Julia Margulies, who worked on shows executive produced by Scott are here.