US director and writer Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for LA Confidential, has died aged 71.
Los Angeles police spokesman Tony Im says paramedics declared Hanson dead on Tuesday at his Hollywood Hills home.
Im says Hanson died of natural causes, but did not have further details.
He began screenwriting and directing in the early 1970s, but didn't see serious success until directing the 1992 psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. The film starring Rebecca De Mornay as a revenge-seeking nanny became a major hit.
Actors and celebrities were quick to pay tribute to Hanson.
"Thank you for believing in me & standing your ground. In reality you made my job a career. Love & respect my friend," Russell Crowe, who starred in LA Confidential, said on Twitter.
"It was an honour to make Bad Influence with Curtis Hanson. So smart, so kind and a great storyteller. I will miss him," Rob Lowe tweeted.
Rapper Eminem thanked Hanson for his work directing the 2002 film 8 Mile.
"Curtis Hanson believed in me and our crazy idea to make a rap battle movie set in Detroit. He basically made me into an actor," Eminem said, in a statement to US magazine Billboard.
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