British-born Tony Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott’s younger brother.
Distinct visual styles mark both siblings’ films – Ridley Scott mastering the creation of entire worlds with such films as Gladiator, Blade Runner, Alien and this year’s Prometheus, Tony Scott known for hyper-kinetic action and editing on such films as his most recent, the runaway train thriller Unstoppable, starring regular collaborator Denzel Washington.
Tony was the first of the Scott brothers to enjoy blockbuster success with Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, the top-grossing film of 1986 at $176 million.
Tony Scott teamed with Tom Cruise again four years later on the hit Days of Thunder. He also had a sequel to Top Gun in development.
But Ridley Scott later managed more and bigger hits than his brother and earned a level of critical respect never achieved by Tony Scott.
Gladiator won the best-picture Academy Award for 2000 and earned Ridley Scott one of his three best-director nominations; Tony Scott never was in the running for an Oscar, and critics often slammed his movies for emphasizing style over substance.
The two brothers ran Scott Free Productions and were working jointly on a film called Killing Lincoln, based on the best seller by Bill O’Reilly.
Their company produced the CBS dramas NUMB3RS and The Good Wife as well as a 2011 documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg for the History Channel.
Besides Unstoppable, Tony Scott worked with Denzel Washington on four other movies: Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu and The Taking of Pelham 123.
• The Hunger (1983) – His debut starred Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie as vampires. It was a commercial flop but became a cult classic
• Top Gun (1986) – Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and Val Kilmer turned this film into the highest-grossing of the year, $354million, and a pop-culture classic.
• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) – This Eddie Murphy film was the most highly-anticipated film of the year
• Revenge (1990) – Tony Scott left the action genre to work with Kevin Costner in this adultery thriller. It was a flop
• Days of Thunder (1990) – Tom Cruise returned for a film about the danger of NASCAR racing. Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall played major roles
• The Last Boy Scout (1991) – Bruce Willis starred in this big-budget action film that under-performed at the box office
• True Romance (1993) – Ironically, this was Tony Scott most critically-acclaimed film but also one of his biggest commercial flops
• Crimson Tide (1995) – Another success for Tony Scott in this thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington
• The Fan (1996) – Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes star in a psychological thriller about fanatical baseball fans
• Enemy of the State (1998) – Will Smith played opposite Gene Hackman in a big-budget spy thriller
• Spy Game (2001) – More glowing reviews for another Tony Scott spy thriller, this one starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt
• Man on Fire (2004) – Denzel Washington as a CIA operative bent on revenge after his young charge is kidnapped in Mexico
• Domino (2005) – Keira Knightley stars as a bounty hunter in LA. Panned by critics
• Déjà Vu (2006) – A science fiction thriller starring Denzel Washington
• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) – Denzel Washington and John Travolta play opposite each other in this terrorism-related thriller.
• Unstoppable (2010) – Tony Scott again turned to Denzel Washington. The critics enjoyed it and the public too spending $168 million
