Top Gun Director Had Inoperable Brain Cancer

Top Gun director Tony Scott, who jumped off a Los Angeles bridge to his death yesterday, was suffering from inoperable brain cancer, an insider tells ABC News. Police got multiple calls about the jump yesterday around 12:35pm; a number of boaters witnessed the scene, TMZ reports. "He landed right next to our tour boat, and many of us saw the whole thing," says a cruise passenger.

Scott left several notes to loved ones in his car and elsewhere, though early reports didn't label them suicide notes, officials say. The Vincent Thomas Bridge's highest point is 185 feet over the Los Angeles harbor, and the AP notes that it has seen a number of suicides. Scott was a daredevil in his free time, enjoying rock-climbing and speedy cars and motorcycles. But "the biggest edge I live on is directing. That's the most scary, dangerous thing you can do in your life," he once said. (More Top Gun stories.)