Tony Scott

TONY SCOTT

Date of Birth: July 21, 1944

Hailing from Newcastle, England, directors Tony and his brother Ridley were interested in movie making from an early age. In 1960, at 16, Tony starred in brother Ridley's first filmmaking effort, Boy and Bicycle. The two graduated from the Royal College Of Art in London where Tony earned a master's degree in fine arts and developed an interest in cinematography.

Following school, the Scott brothers set up a commercial production company called Scott Free Productions. While working on commercials, Tony won virtually every major award in the field including Clios, Gold and Silver Lions from Cannes and London's Designers & Arts Directors Awards. "I loved commercials because I was always shooting -- I was actually getting to turn some film. And for the generation that I happen to be a part of, the adventures in advertising then were the same as what videos are today, here. There were very few restrictions in Europe. In its own way, advertising is as great an art form as documentaries or features." By the 1980s, Tony had directed literally thousands of commercials for Ridley's company.

In 1969, Tony directed the short film, One of the Missing, before taking on his first feature, Loving Memory (which he also wrote). By 1983 he made his talents known across the pond and released The Hunger. The highly stylized film was a flop and Scott was deemed unbankable for the next few years, which resulted in his loss of the Starman project.

But when he did come back to the silver screen, he did it with a lasting bang. Since his American debut, Tony has released one hit after another including Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, Days of Thunder, True Romance, Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State. He has worked with two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington several times - in Man on Fire (2004), The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) and Unstoppable (2010).

When not working, Scott is an avid mountain climber.

On the afternoon of August 19, 2012, Scott committed suicide when he jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, California. His body was recovered by authorities in the water below and a suicide note was reportedly found later in his office, although the contents of the note were not revealed. He died at the age of 68.