A porn actor wanted for allegedly murdering a co-worker with a samurai-style sword has died jumping off a cliff after a day-long stand-off with police, the Los Angeles Times reported late Saturday.

It had earlier been reported that Stephen Clancy Hill, 34, was in police custody after falling from a cliff edge.

Hill, who was wanted for one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder after attacking colleagues at a pornographic film distribution company warehouse in Los Angeles on Tuesday, had been surrounded by police for eight hours on the edge of Canoga Park.

With dusk approaching and Hill continuing to threaten to kill himself, members of the Los Angeles Police Department's elite SWAT unit tried to subdue and apprehend him, Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese told the Times.

Hall then threw himself over the cliff and suffered fatal head injuries in the 50-foot (15m) fall, authorities said.

Early Saturday, SWAT teams had descended on a house in the San Fernando Valley after a tip-off.

Television footage showed the actor, who once played Barack Obama in porn spoof “Palin: Erection 2008,” holding a samurai sword and shouting at police to keep their distance.

Hill, who has appeared in several porn films under the stage name "Steve Driver," was believed to have murdered fellow actor Herbert Wong at the warehouse-style offices of Ultima DVD on Tuesday.

Wong, who had appeared in two films with Hill under the name "Tom Dong," died as he tried to help other staff to escape, the company's owner said.

Hill's rampage appeared to have been triggered by the discovery that he was about to be fired and evicted from the office where he had been living.