Paul Walker, the favorite star who for 12 years who played a leading role in the six-film action series about illegal street racing, which has become one of the most successful in cinema history after grossing more than $2 billion (£1.2 billion), has died in a car crash aged 40. The actor was travelling as a passenger in a latest Porsche available in car market when his friend who was driving – who has been described as an “experienced driver” – lost control of the vehicle and collided with a street light, and then a tree.
The LA County Sheriff’s branch has confirmed that two people died in a crash in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, at 3:30pm on Saturday. Both men are said to have died within seconds of the crash, according to media reports, but Walker’s death was confirmed by his representatives on his official Facebook page and some other sources. While there’s no official explanation for Saturday’s crash in Santa Clarita, California, some of the people close to Walker and the driver of the vehicle, professional racer Roger Rodas offered speculative answers to this incident. Investigators continue to look into the cause of the single-car crash, but have said speed was believed to be a factor. Results of toxicology tests will not be available for several weeks.
The Reach out Worldwide event was a car show aimed at generating aid for the Philippines typhoon relief effort. It appears Walker, who was an investor in a nearby car export company called Always Evolving, took the Porsche GT, which was on show at Reach out Worldwide, for a drive.
Universal Pictures, the studio behind the Fast and Furious franchise, released a statement on Saturday evening. “All of us at Universal are heartbroken,” it read. “Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the Fast and Furious films, and to countless fans.”
The sentiment was echoed by Walker’s Fast and Furious co-star Vin Diesel, who posted a photo of the pair on his Instagram account with the caption: “Brother I will miss you very much. I am absolutely speechless. Heaven has gained a new Angel. Rest in Peace.”
Other colleagues took to twitter to express their grief. “All my strength, love & faith to the Walker family during this heartbreaking time. We find our strength in his light. Love you brother,” wrote Dwayne Johnson on his @TheRock account. Johnson had joined the cast of Fast and Furious for its two most recent instalments, and was due to return for the seventh, which had just begun filming.
Walker was enjoying a career high-point after the sixth Fast & Furious film, which was released earlier this year, became the most lucrative of the series, grossing more than $788 million worldwide. The seventh film in the franchise began filming in September this year and was scheduled to be released in July next year. Walker and his co-stars were on a break from filming when he was killed. Walker also stars as a father struggling to keep his infant daughter alive in Hours, a film about 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which is due to be released in the US later this month.
