Don Simpson Biography

Fast Facts

• Began his movie career working in the marketing department at Warner Bros
• Didn't even own a sport coat when he interviewed for a job at Paramount in 1975, and had to borrow one from friend Jerry Bruckheimer
• Went to rehab for cocaine addiction in the middle of production on Top Gun, but relapsed upon returning to the set
• Died unexpectedly of a drug overdose in 1996, following a six hour phone conversation with screenwriter James Toback
• The last film he worked on, The Rock (1996), is dedicated to his memory