Mystery Surrounds Tony Scott Suicide Leap from L.A. Bridge as Reports That the 'Top Gun' and 'Crimson Tide' Director Had Inoperable Brain Cancer Are Shot Down
20 August 2012

On Sunday afternoon Scott, 68, parked his car at the crest of the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge in San Pedro, scaled a towering 18-foot barrier fence and — as witnesses looked on in horror — jumped some 185 feet to his death in Los Angeles Harbor.


Tony Scott with his brother Sir Ridley Scott.

An element of mystery surrounded Tony Scott’s suicidal leap from a Los Angeles bridge as authorities Monday shot down a report that the action movie maestro had suffered from inoperable brain cancer.

“Through a family spokesperson, we have been advised that Mr. Scott did not have brain cancer or (an) inoperable tumor,” Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey told the Daily News late Monday.

ABC News had reported the dire health diagnosis earlier in the day, citing a source close to the famed director of 'Top Gun', 'Beverly Hills Cop II' and 'Crimson Tide'.

An autopsy was begun Monday. “We will look at any medical history,” Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter told The News. “We don’t have anything medically confirmed at this time.”

Winter said Scott left a suicide note in his office and another note in his car that listed contact numbers. He declined to discuss the contents of the note.

On Sunday afternoon Scott, 68, parked his car at the crest of the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge in San Pedro, scaled a towering 18-foot barrier fence and — as witnesses looked on in horror — jumped some 185 feet to his death in Los Angeles Harbor.

“He was on the roadway close to the fence looking around. … He looked nervous,” David Silva, a passenger in a vehicle that was crossing the bridge at the time, told The Los Angeles Times. “I thought it was some extreme sports guy.”

“(Scott) paused a couple of seconds and then began to climb the fence,” Silva continued. “He put his foot on the top of the fence and paused again — and then he threw himself off.”

A bystander made the first 911 call around 12:35 p.m. Hours later divers recovered Scott’s body from the murky harbor, authorities said. In an eerie coincidence, the director had visited railroad tracks adjacent to the bridge exactly two years earlier for work related to his Denzel Washington flick 'Unstoppable'.

“Very sad. We did reshoots of 'Unstoppable' in the RR yard on Pier A Street under the bridge,” location scout Scott Trimble wrote on Twitter. “Tony Scott was a good man.” Trimble told The News he was surprised to find photos dated August 19, 2010 — two years to the day of Scott’s suicide — showing the director in the shadow of the bridge, wearing his trademark red hat.

The British-born director was survived by his third wife and their twin sons. His famous brother Sir Ridley Scott, director of 'Alien', 'Blade Runner' and 'Gladiator', was spotted at London’s main airport Monday heading to the U.S. He looked “distraught,” a source said.

“Tony was my dear friend and I will really miss him,” Tom Cruise said. “He was a creative visionary whose mark on film is immeasurable.”

www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/tony-scott-battle-inoperable-brain-cancer-driven-top-gun-crimson-tide-director-suicide-leap...

A brave way to go. R.I.P.

A coward way to go.

My friend used to dogsit his dog. Trufax.

I meant the actual leap from the bridge. It's a pretty fucking scary spot to jump down from (top of the fence).

It's so easy to call someone coward for killing themselves but it's not an easy thing to do which is why very few of us humans do it. And there are several reasons to why people kill themselves. They are either severely depressed or severely distressed or both. They do not see any other way out of the situation there are. They are too exhausted to continue and have lost all hope. Without the right kind of help and support to the situation it's very hard to find a way out of the whatever web one's tangled into.

i agree with u and i know u meant the actual act not the suicide itself. but i still cant think of anyone committing suicide as "brave". it is simply that someone is not able to take what destiny/god/nature/etc gives him/her as "life" and decides to step off, becoming from a miserable man to an even more miserable one.
the only good thing i can give him is that he did it clearly. i fuckin hate those motherfucked who fuck up other peoples lives just because they wanna kill themselves. imagine the returning nightmares of the traindriver who hits one of these fuckers, just because the fucker wanted a little attraction on him/herself. so, at least he didnt involve others into it, but still, i dont think its courage that u need to do certain act. only attention. if someone dies u rarely read about it in the newspapers for instance if the person wasnt some famous celebrity or smth, but if the unknown person commits suicide u will find a little some-row-long article about it in the newspaper, so he/she got the little attention, congratz!

well according to the news today he was diagniosed with temrinal cancer so iis it a cowards way to end your life with suicide ? or is he supposed to battle the cancer ? personally if i was diagnosed with something like that i dont think i could live with the pain

Which is easy to say when you either haven't been under a crushing enough distress and/or depression. And if it didn't take lots of guts to take your own life it would be a way more common thing than it is now. I doubt that many people kill themselves just to get media attention, unless of course they go on a shooting spree first. But many of them undoubtedly have been unsuccessful in getting the needed attention and support from their families which could have prevented the suicides from happening. People in general have a very dangerous habit of belittling depression and other mental issues.

to me this doesnt change the fact that committing suicide is just stupid even u have cancer or are so depressed. but u know in some way it is good they end their lives cause they are useless anyway. and i personally believe that right before they die of this suicide act they terrible regret doing it. better that, i have a good laugh.
not as if i want to hurt anyone though, not them and not any of you here. but i am just not able to symphatise with ppl who kill themselves. committing suicide out of depression is plainly stupid. start smth with ur miserable life instead of standing in one place and crying how bad it is to you. it is bad for all us, yeah some of us suffer more than another person, so what? if u just cry all day it wont even change.
committing suicide because u have a deadly illness is another stupid thing. yeah ure gonna die anyway, isnt it whatever if its on monday or tuesday? i think not. but if these ppl think so, all i say is kill urself and be selfish.



no offence, like i said i accept it can take guts, but u sound like i should respect him for being so brave!

wow



only on BK can i hear such heartless conversation

No offence either, but you sound like a pretty damn cold person. That is exactly the kind of attitude that in many cases helps in pushing people over the edge. Cases were families fail to realize that severe depression or other mental issues are not something one can just simply snap out of. There's this tendency to believe that people who are depressed and/or crazy and/or get in trouble do it by choice. It's this ol' and ignorant only the strong survive school of thought that unfortunately still persists even today. Things are not as simple as that and as long as people falsely continue to believe so many more lives will be lost in vain.


No, I'm not saying that you should respect him for taking his life. I'm just simply saying that it takes a lots of guts to actually kill yourself.

Motive for Director Tony Scott's Suicide Still a Mystery
22 August 2012

Authorities say the several notes Tony Scott left behind do not mention health problems.



Investigators probing the death of "Top Gun" director Tony Scott said they still don't know why he plunged from the Vincent Thomas Bridge on Sunday.

Law enforcement sources said several notes Scott left do not mention any health problems or offer solid clues about why he jumped. It's possible, the sources said, that authorities might never make a clear determination of motive.

An autopsy was performed Monday. But, as in many cases, the coroner said a final cause of death would not be determined until toxicology and other tests results became available in several weeks.

Officials have not determined whether Scott had any health problems before he jumped off the San Pedro bridge but said family members have denied media reports that he was suffering from cancer.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9965.story

You can't generalize suicide as being brave or cowardly. It's different for everyone. There are people who just don't want to live anymore, examined all possibilities, all the consequences and decide to go ahead with it. Sometimes they have the courage to do it, sometimes they don't. There are other people who are indeed cowards, who don't want to face a situation or the consequences to something they have done and they resort to suicide as a escape from responsability and owning up. There are also people who are just sick, depressed, have some sort of mental or psychological issue and they resort to this.
But saying that is cowardly or brave is pretty wrong imo.
And there is one more thing. Every person on this planet should have the right to do what he wants with his own life. Why should anyone tell me what to do with it, or why should i tell you what to do with your life and how to live it. Either we are free or we are not.

Just so there's no misunderstandings... I did not say that suicide is a brave thing to do. I said that it takes guts to kill yourself. There's a difference. What I meant with the brave line was that it was brave of him to jump down from such a sick fuckin' spot. But the again he was an experienced rock climber whereas I have a dislike for such insanely high spots.

well thats true but have u thought it over? what u say means that u have to have the right to kill urself if u want to. is it okay? yes, it is. so u also have the right to kill urself by jumping in front of a train, fucking up someone else's life too just cause urs is alredy fucked up. is that also okay? after all why should i tell u what to do with ur life?
its okay that "we are free", but i think there has to be some limitation of this freedom, simply a little humanity.

to "the spitfire":
im sick of this depression is illness. u can call me old-skool only-the-strongest-survive type, but this is it. being sad is not an illness to treat with medicines as so called psychiatrists do it. they could then certainly give marihuana or speed or any other happy drug to them, cause actually that's what they are doing anyway, dont they? what's the difference between medicine for depression and drugs?
as for getting into a web from which u are weak to break out as u say, i also find it a little untrue. sure there are situations when it seems impossible or smth, but i think when u just give up that also involves a little own decision too. that person gives up not only cause he cant see a way out but also because he has a little desire not even to find a way out. that's what i think.

as for the only-the-strongest-surive attitude, i dont agree i have that. i work hard to earn some money and part of this money goes to help out for instance handicapped ppl. i am glad to help them out with it and i am glad to help them even more as i can. they deserve to live. but another part of my money also goes to help out those motherfuckers who would be able to work but instead sit at home, thinking about how sad they are and how bad their lives are. they live on my money and on other working citizen's money, just because they are sad. thats fucking disgusting! the question 'if ur so special, why arent u dead?' was probably invented for these ppl.