Tommy Lee Jones explained why he once 'fired' daughter Victoria before her sudden death aged 34

No Country for Old Men actor Tommy Lee Jones once shared fond memories of working with his daughter, Victoria, ahead of her sudden death this week at the age of 34.

Victoria Jones is reported to have died at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco in the early hours of New Year's Day, with the San Francisco Fire Department confirming that paramedics responded to a call at the hotel’s address at around 2:52am.

Paramedics found a deceased individual at the scene, after which the local police department and medical examiner’s office took control over the case.

The cause of death is not yet known.

Victoria was Jones' youngest child with his second wife, Kimberlea Cloughley, and early in her life Victoria followed in her father's footsteps in the world of acting, and appeared alongside him in the 2002 movie Men in Black II.

Victoria worked with her father on Men In Black when she was a child (Ken Ishii/Getty Images)

Three years later, she worked with Jones on the 2005 movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which he both starred in and directed.

In an interview with The New Yorker released on January 2, 2006 - almost exactly 20 years before Victoria's death - Jones spoke fondly of his daughter's work in the movie, in which she played a young Mexican girl.

Jones said of Victoria, who was just 14 at the time: “She’s a good actress, has her SAG card, speaks impeccable Spanish. When she was a baby, I told Leticia, her nurse, to speak to her in Spanish."

However, just because she was his daughter didn't mean Jones went easy on Victoria.

He continued: "I fired my daughter. She had to get up at 5 A.M. for her part. One morning, she wouldn’t get out of bed."

Jones didn't let his daughter sleep in while working together (David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Jones went on to recall how he encouraged his daughter to wake up, saying: "I said, ‘Honey, this is work.’ But she wouldn’t budge."

Needing Victoria to realize that her actions had consequences, Jones continued: "So I fired her."

Thankfully, however, Victoria's role in the movie was saved with the help of the production staff, who Jones said went over to Victoria 'without telling him' and managed to wake her up, before rushing her out to set 'just in time'.

Condolences have been flooding in for Victoria's family in the wake of the news, with one fan writing on X: "My thoughts are with Tommy and the family, losing a child is unimaginable. Hug your loved ones tight, life's twists can be harsher than any movie script."

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