LOS ANGELES — Tony Scott, the director of “Top Gun” and production partner of brother Ridley Scott, died Sunday after jumping from a bridge near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California. He was 68.
Authorities found a note in the car Scott drove onto the bridge, Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Joe Bale said in an interview. He jumped around 12:30 p.m. local time Sunday and his body was retrieved around 3 p.m., Bale said.
“At this point we are investigating this as a suicide,” Bale said. “There is nothing to lead us to believe otherwise. A note was left in the car.”
British-born Scott is best known for directing “Top Gun,” the 1986 movie that starred Tom Cruise as a risk-taking naval aviator at an elite flight school. His directing credits also include “The Last Boy Scout” and 2009’s “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.” He was a partner with his older brother in Scott Free Productions, which made television’s “The Good Wife” and dozens of films, according to Imdb.com.