Hollywood filmmaker Tony Scott commits suicide

Tony Scott, director of such Hollywood blockbusters as 'Top Gun', 'Days of Thunder' and 'Beverly Hills Cop II', died after jumping from a Los Angeles County bridge, authorities said.

Onlookers saw Scott, who was 68, parking his car on the Vincent Thomas Bridge and leaping into the water below at about 12:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT), according to Lieutenant Joe Bale, a watch commander for the coroner's office.

Bale said the body was recovered by law enforcement from the harbor shortly before 3 p.m. and was subsequently identified as being that of the filmmaker and younger brother of movie director Ridley Scott.

Bale said there was no immediate evidence leading investigators to believe that Scott's death was anything but a suicide. He said an autopsy had not yet been performed.

The Torrance Daily Breeze newspaper, citing a U.S. Coast Guard official, reported in an online story that a suicide note was found inside Scott's car, which was parked on the cable-suspension bridge.

One lane of the eastbound side of the bridge was closed to traffic during the investigation. Cargo vessels moved at reduced speeds through the east side of the port's main channel during the search, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

Investigators found a note in Scott's car, which was parked on the bridge, according to the Los Angeles Times. That note listed contact information. A suicide note was later found at his office.

The British-born Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott's brother. The two brothers ran Scott Free Productions and were working jointly on a film called 'Killing Lincoln', based on the best seller by Bill O'Reilly. Their company produced a 2011 documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg for the History Channel. Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' was a summer blockbuster.

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