Officially opened in November 1963, the 365 foot high, mint green Vincent Thomas Bridge connects the port of San Pedro with Terminal Island in Long Beach, arching out over a narrow inlet of Los Angeles Harbor. It is the only suspension bridge in the greater Los Angeles area. As befitting a local landmark, it has featured in a number of movies, including Lethal Weapon 2, Charlie’s Angels, To Live and Die in L.A., and Inception. In the 1995 thriller Heat, Robert de Niro name-checks it incorrectly as the “St. Vincent Thomas Bridge.” On 12 August 2012, it cemented its place in Hollywood history in altogether more grisly fashion.
At around 12:30 pm on the day in question, a late model Toyota Prius drew to a halt mid-way across the bridge’s 15000-ft span. Out of it stepped Tony Scott, a director whose films – Top Gun, True Romance, and Man on Fire among them – had considerably higher octane than his car. After walking purposefully to the edge of the bridge, Scott climbed an 18-foot-high security fence and flung himself to his death. According to witnesses, he showed no hint of hesitation before he jumped.
Harbor Department cops found a note in Scott’s car and another, addressed to his family, in his office at Scott Free Productions, the company he ran with his older brother, director Ridley Scott.
His body was dragged from the water three days later by L.A. Port Police. An autopsy revealed traces of the drugs mirtazapine and eszopiclone in his system, both of which are known to induce suicidal thoughts.
Scott was a popular figure in the film business, known for his gregarious, larger-than-life personality, trademark red baseball cap, and penchant for fine cigars. His death sent shockwaves through the Hollywood community. "Tony Scott was a great director, a genuine friend and it is unfathomable to think that he is now gone," said Denzel Washington, his most frequent collaborator.
A report on ABC News on 20 August stated that Scott had been suffering from inoperable brain cancer, a claim refuted by the coroner’s report which found no evidence of a terminal illness at the time of his death. The content of the two notes was not released, but it was confirmed by an LA County coroner’s spokesman that neither made any mention of ill health. Scott had two pre-teen sons by his third wife, actress Donna Wilson, who he met on the set of the Tom Cruise movie Days of Thunder in 1990. His reason for killing himself was a mystery.
In a 2014 interview with Variety, Ridley Scott clarified the situation – to an extent. Although he described his brother’s suicide as “inexplicable”, he added that “Tony had been fighting a lengthy battle with cancer – a diagnosis the family elected to keep private during his treatments and in the immediate wake of his death.”
Before he chose it as the site of his demise, Scott had a connection with the Vincent Thomas Bridge. He filmed reshoots for his 2010 runaway train movie Unstoppable in a railroad yard beneath it and planned to shoot scenes for his unrealized remake of The Warriors there. “I’m hoping to get 100,000 real gang members standing on the Vincent Thomas Bridge,” he told Rotten Tomatoes in June 2009.
Scott was cremated and his ashes interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetry in Los Angeles on 24 August 2012.