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Hollywood mogul Steve Bing dies aged 55: Reports

  (Agence France-Presse)
Los Angeles, United States
Tue, June 23, 2020

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Hollywood mogul Steve Bing dies aged 55: Reports In this file photo Former US President Bill Clinton (L) and Hollywood mogul Steve Bing look on during the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) September 21, 2010 in New York City. (AFP/Mario Tama)

H

ollywood producer Steve Bing, who financed Tom Hanks movie "The Polar Express" and fathered a child with actress Liz Hurley, has died aged 55, US media reported Monday.

TMZ said Bing had died after falling from the 27th story of a luxury apartment building in Los Angeles' Century City, citing anonymous law enforcement sources.

A Los Angeles police spokesman told AFP a male in his fifties had been pronounced dead at the same scene, without disclosing his identity.

Both the victim's age and the location matched TMZ reports.

As well as producing and financing movies such as Sylvester Stallone's action flick "Get Carter" and Martin Scorsese's music documentary "Shine a Light," Bing co-wrote the 2003 comedy "Kangaroo Jack."

He famously invested over $80 million in "The Polar Express" -- around half the Christmas animation's budget. The 2004 movie, starring Hanks as a lead voice actor, would gross more than $300 million worldwide.

Read also: 'Batman Forever' and 'Lost Boys' director Schumacher dies at 80

Bing was also a prominent real estate developer, philanthropist and political donor.

He was a long-time friend and supporter to Bill Clinton, lending the former US president his private jet for a 2009 mission to North Korea to free two American journalists.

At the age of 18, Bing had inherited around $600 million from his grandfather, property tycoon Leo S Bing, after whom the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theatre is named.

Bing had two children -- Damian, whose mother is Hurley, and Kira, born to professional tennis player Lisa Bonder.

Reports in TMZ and The Wrap said Bing had been suffering from depression and had died by suicide.

Bing's publicist did not immediately respond to AFP request for comment. 

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