Tony Scott, a British-born film director and producer, was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom was fellow film director Ridley Scott. Born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott, his family moved frequently due to his father's career in the British military. Their mother, who loved going to the movies, instilled a love of cinema in her children.
At the age of 16, Tony made his first on-screen appearance as "the boy" in his brother's directorial debut, the short film Boy and Bicycle (1965). In 1969, he directed his own short film One of the Missing (1969) about a soldier in the American Civil War.
Tony had a talent for art and painting, spending a year at Leeds College of Art and Design before studying fine arts at the University of Sunderland. He won a scholarship to study for his Master's of Fine Arts at the Royal College of Art. After university, he spent several years as a painter but eventually decided to forge a different career path and partnered with Ridley in advertising at Ridley Scott Associates.
In 1971, he wrote, produced, and directed Loving Memory, but it was his vampire movie The Hunger (1983) starring Susan Sarandon, David Bowie, and Catherine Deneuve that attracted attention from Hollywood. He was subsequently asked by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to direct Top Gun (1986) starring Tom Cruise, with whom he would work again on Days of Thunder (1990).
Tony followed the success of Top Gun with the sequel Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) starring Eddie Murphy, which was well received. In 1993, he directed True Romance (1993),written by emerging director Quentin Tarantino, with whom he had a lot of creative control and received great reviews.
Tony collaborated with actor Denzel Washington five times on films such as Crimson Tide (1995),The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009),Deja Vu (2006),Man on Fire (2004),and his final film Unstoppable (2010).
Tony Scott passed away at the age of 68 on August 19, 2012, in California, USA.
