Hollywood director Tony Scott jumps to death from bridge

Tony Scott, director of blockbusters Top Gun and Days of Thunder, jumped to his death Sunday from the Vincent Thomas Bridge, authorities said.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said Scott's death was being investigated as a suicide.

The police found a note with contact information in Scott's pocket, while a suicide note was found in this office. The contents of the note have yet to be made public.

Though critical reaction to Tony Scott's directorial output was always mixed, the director - brother to the more successful Ridley (Alien, Gladiator, Prometheus) - has also enjoyed a number of blockbuster hits throughout his career, which notably took off with Top Gun - the military aviation action-drama that also launched the career of its star, Tom Cruise.

Tony Scott originally intended to be painter, but his brother convinced him to shoot for a film career. Starting off in television adverts, Scott's first feature film was the David Bowie-starring vampire thriller The Hunger (1983), before Top Gun made him a household name a few years later, in 1986.

While he hardly ever scaled the heights of the classic genre films produced by his elder brother, with many dismissing his fast-paced action thrillers as valuing style over substance - Tony Scott managed to create consistently successful hits.

These included Crimson Tide, Spy Game, Enemy on the State and several others. In 1993, Scott directed True Romance, from a script by then-unknown Quentin Tarantino. The screenplay for the Bonnie and Clyde-inspired crime comedy-thriller - starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette - was then also adapted by Oliver Stone into Natural Born Killers.

In recent years, Scott collaborated frequently with actor Denzel Washington, starting with 2004's well-received revenge thriller Man on Fire and continuing on to Deja Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) and Unstoppable (2010).

Scott is survived by his wife and two children.

Lt Joe Bale, from the coroner's office, said the director was seen parking his car and jumping into the water at about 12:30 on Sunday.

His body was recovered from the harbour less than three hours later.

Fellow director Ron Howard said on Twitter: "No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day."

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."

At the time of his death, he was rumoured to be working with Tom Cruise on a sequel to Top Gun.

WATCH - Trailers for some of Scott's most popular films