Anton Yelchin, actor in 'Star Trek' films, dies in freak car accident at age 27
Kate Mather ,
Cindy Chang and
Matt HamiltonContact Reporters
Actor Anton Yelchin, perhaps best known for his role in the new “Star Trek” films, died early Sunday after his vehicle rolled down his Studio City driveway and trapped the actor against a brick post, authorities confirmed.
Friends went to the 27-year-old actor’s gated hillside home shortly
after 1 a.m. Sunday, when he didn’t show up for a rehearsal as expected, L.A. police Officer Jenny Houser told The Times.
Authorities believe Yelchin’s vehicle rolled backward down the steep driveway, Houser said, pinning him against a brick column and security gate.
Investigators with the Los Angeles County coroner's office concluded that Yelchin's death was an accident caused by blunt traumatic asphyxia, Lt. Larry Dietz said. It appeared that Yelchin had not properly put his car in park, Dietz added.
Sunday afternoon outside Yelchin’s English-style three-bedroom home, which is partly shielded by mature trees and tucked below a winding hillside street above Ventura Boulevard.
The black metal gate that blocked the home’s sloping driveway appeared bent and damaged.
The publicist Jennifer Allen also confirmed Yelchin’s death and said the actor’s family has asked for privacy.
Yelchin was born March 11, 1989, in Russia, the only son of Viktor Yelchin and Irina Korina. His parents were celebrity figure skaters in the former Soviet Union, but when their son was six months old, they fled to the U.S. and settled in Los Angeles.
"We were afraid for our son," Viktor Yelchin
told The Times in 1989. "It is a very bad situation over there. I would get angry, too--I'd say, 'Why should we have to buy things on the black market? Why should we have to stand in line?'"
Sunday afternoon outside Yelchin’s home.
“He didn’t really like the business, but he loved acting,” said the former classmate who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Yelchin, he said, admired global cinema and valued intellectually stimulating discussions on politics and philosophy.
“It was not about celebrity. He was about acting,” the friend said.
J.J. Abrams, who directed Yelchin in 2009’s “Star Trek” and 2013’s “Star Trek Into Darkness,” tweeted a photo of a handwritten note that reads: “You were brilliant. You were kind. You were funny as hell. And you weren’t here nearly long enough. Missing you, JJ.”
Just saw this online. What a loss, that guy had a gift. I saw him in something recently and he was so good. I always liked his choices in independent movies. RIP Bro.
