Cruise hails ‘visionary film-maker and friend’

HOLLYWOOD actor Tom Cruise has led tributes to his “dear friend” Tony Scott, the British director who died after jumping from a bridge in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Describing Scott as a “creative visionary”, he said his mark on film was “immeasurable”.

Last night, it emerged that the results from an autopsy on the Top Gun film-maker may not be known for six weeks.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles coroners’ department said that “further tests” were being carried out.

Scott, originally from North Shields on Tyneside and the younger brother of film-maker Ridley Scott, leapt from the Vincent Thomas Bridge and his death is being treated as suicide.

Denzel Washington, frequently the leading man in his films including Crimson Tide and The Taking Of Pelham 123, said: “Tony Scott was a great director, a genuine friend and it is unfathomable to think that he is now gone.

“He had a tremendous passion for life and for the art of film-making and was able to share this passion with all of us through his cinematic brilliance.”

Cruise, who became a major name after being cast in the lead for Top Gun, said he “will really miss him”.

“He was a creative visionary whose mark on film is immeasurable. My deepest sorrow and thoughts are with his family at this time.”

A dive team pulled Scott’s body from the water several hours after members of the public alerted emergency services, having seen him jump from the bridge. A suicide note is said to have been found at his office and he had left contact details in his black Toyota Prius parked close to the scene.

A coroner’s spokesman denied reports Scott had been diagnosed with brain cancer.