Spider-Man actress Lucy Gordon left two suicide notes before hanging herself in Paris flat
- New pictures show actress in film she made with cameraman boyfriend
Tragic British actress Lucy Gordon left two suicide notes before hanging herself in the Paris flat she shared with her cinematographer boyfriend, her father said today.
Miss Gordon, 28, who played reporter Jennifer Dugan in Spider-Man 3, detailed her last wishes regarding her estate on one piece of paper and left a letter for her parents on another.
Her father Richard Gordon said a post-mortem examination proved she had died from hanging and that no other marks were found on her body. He spoke today to end speculation that the death might be anything other than suicide.
Tragic: Lucy Gordon, pictured here at the Spider-Man 3 premiere in 2007, was found dead in her Paris apartment
Speaking from the family’s Oxford home on what would have been Miss Gordon’s 29th birthday, Mr Gordon, 60, said: 'There is no question of foul play. Lucy committed suicide.'
Miss Gordon’s boyfriend, revealed today as top cinematographer Jerome Alveras, was asleep in the Paris apartment when the actress hanged herself on Tuesday night.
Mr Gordon said: 'We speak to him daily and he is also distraught.'
Almeras - the cinematographer behind last year's Kristin Scott Thomas hit film I've Loved You So Long - has spent the last two days being questioned by police about his 28-year-old lover’s apparent suicide.
The pair are believed to have had a lovers’ tiff on Tuesday night with Mr Almeras waking up on Wednesday morning to a scene of horror.
Mr Almeras, a Frenchman in his 40s, rushed out of the two-bedroom rented flat in Paris’s 10th arrondissement and alerted a nearby shopkeeper, but it was too late to save Miss Gordon.
Neighbours said Mr Almeras told them Miss Gordon had been deeply affected by the recent suicide of a friend in Britain. Some described hearing the row between the couple on Tuesday night.
Today the flat was empty, with Mr Almeras nowhere to be seen. He had been due to celebrate Miss Gordon’s 29th birthday with her.
Their names both remained on the post box of their flat in the mansion block.
An experienced camera operator, Mr Almeras has worked on numerous films, including Cineman, in which Miss Gordon had a role.
The film, a comedy, is currently in post-production. It was not clear if the couple had met on the set or if they knew one another previously.
He was still being questioned last night, but the spokesman stressed it was believed Miss Gordon committed suicide.
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Her father said: 'She was the light of mine, her mum's, and her sister's lives'
Hollywood part: Miss Gordon played British reporter Jennifer Dugan in 2007's Spider-Man 3
He has cooperated fully with police from the start, making a clear and consistent statement about what happened in the £2000-a-month rented mansion flat in Paris's 10th arrondissement on the Right Bank of the Seine.
Earlier police had described him as in a 'state of some shock'.
Miss Gordon died just two days before her 29th birthday and hours before she was due to be interviewed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Authorities are conducting an autopsy today, with the cause of death expected to be announced later this afternoon.
‘The autopsy is a routine procedure which follows an apparent suicide,’ said a French police spokesman. ‘Hanging appears to be the obvious cause of death, considering the horrific circumstances in which the young woman was found.’
LUCY'S FATHER:
'She had been acting since the age of two, which was really as soon as she could walk. Her career had been just taking off, and it's a tragedy that it has been cut short so soon'
Neighbours have told police that Miss Gordon was seldom home, as she was always out working or socialising.
Miss Gordon had become a familiar figure in the cafés, restaurants and clubs of Paris, enjoying all that the city had to offer in between filming.
Miss Gordon, who played a British TV reporter in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3, found fame as a model while still at an Oxford public school.
She went on to be the face of U.S. make-up giant Cover Girl and moved into acting a few years later.
She appeared in the 2002 film The Four Feathers alongside Heath Ledger, the Australian star who died from an overdose of prescription drugs in January last year.
Last night her father Richard, a teacher, paid tribute to her at the detached family home in Oxford where he lives with her mother Susan, 58, and sister Katie, 27.
Mr Gordon, 60, said: 'The whole family is so proud of Lucy, and we always have been.
'Her death has come completely out of the blue and the entire family is devastated.
'Everything about how she died is just speculation at the minute, and we want to concentrate on paying tribute to our daughter.
'We have loved her so much throughout her life. She was the light of mine, her mum's, and her sister's lives.
'Lucy was a lovely, generous and unselfish person who always gave so much thought to other people and put them before herself.'
Promising role: Miss Gordon, pictured left, played the actress and singer Jane Birkin in a biopic about the late French singer Serge Gainsbourg currently being previewed at the Cannes Film Festival
Mr Gordon added: 'Acting was what she had always wanted to do. She had been acting since the age of two, which was really as soon as she could walk. Her career had been just taking off, and it's a tragedy that it has been cut short so soon.'
Miss Gordon was in the fourth form at £10,000-a-year Oxford High School - whose famous pupils have included entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, MP Margaret Hodge and actresses Miriam Margolyes and Dame Maggie Smith - and still had braces on her teeth when she was talent-spotted by a model agency as she and her mother visited a Clothes Show Live exhibition.
In 1997, shortly after passing nine GCSEs, she followed stars like Cybill Shepherd, Helena Christensen and Tyra Banks into the Cover Girl role.
English rose: Miss Gordon had a successful career as a model before becoming an actress
In an interview at the time she said she was continuing her studies for history, biology and French A-levels.
She said: 'I'm terrified about taking my A-levels, but equally terrified about not having any option apart from modelling in the future.
'There are a number of things that keep me at school. I could get bored with being a model. I could even get fat. I don't want to be stuck for choice at 25. If I've got my exams, then I will still be able to do a lot with my life.
'Being a model doesn't make you immune to insecurities, either. One thing you have to get used to is rejection.'
Stunning: Miss Gordon's first modelling assignment was for Cover Girl cosmetics when she was only 15
She soon moved on to films, appearing in Serendipity with John Cusack in 2001.
At the Cannes Festival she was due to be interviewed about her leading role playing British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin in a film about her late husband Serge Gainsbourg, the French songwriter, actor and director with whom she sang the notorious Je T'aime. . . Moi Non Plus.
Lucy was talent-spotted by a model agency as she and her mother visited a Clothes Show Live exhibition
Miss Gordon pipped the couple's daughter Charlotte for the role and Miss Birkin had praised her performance.
Mr Gordon said his daughter had spent much of her childhood and her summer holidays in France and was bilingual.
She recently moved to Paris after living in New York.
Felicity Lusk, headmistress of Oxford High School, said last night: 'I remember Lucy very well because she was an extremely talented actress.
'She came to me asking for time off to go on a modelling assignment in New York, which was astonishing for someone that age to be doing during their studies.
'After that her success came very quickly, but she remained a modest and unassuming people-person.
'Lucy is still very well-admired by everyone who knew her when she was at the school and we're proud of what she achieved.'
Media reports in France said Miss Gordon's boyfriend ran to a nearby shop for help after finding her dead on Wednesday morning.
One police officer was quoted as calling the scene in the flat 'absolutely horrific'. He added: 'There will be a post-mortem examination, but there were no indications it was anything other than suicide.'
Judicial sources said they would also be interviewing close friends and family of Miss Gordon to try and establish a motive for her sudden suicide.
She was flourishing in her professional life, so emotional problems related to her personal life would be a principal line of enquiry, said the sources.
Miss Gordon moved to Paris to work on the Universal Pictures film ‘Vie Heroique’ (Heroic Life), about French singer Serge Gainsbourg.
Her portrayal of Jane Birkin, who fell in love with Gainsbourg in 1969, was hugely praised after she spent many weeks perfecting the role around Paris’s Latin Quarter.
Among those she had pipped for the role was Gainsbourg’s own daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Birkin herself, who still lives in Paris, was among those who had been highly impressed. Famous co-stars included French movie legend Brigitte Bardot.
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