EXCLUSIVE

Oscar winning director and writer Curtis Hanson died at a home in the Hollywood Hills Tuesday afternoon ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us paramedics went to the home, responding to a call of an unconscious man. We're told Hanson was pronounced dead at the scene, and it appears to have been a heart attack.

Hanson won an Oscar in 1998 for his "L.A. Confidential" screenplay, which he also directed. He famously directed Eminem's Hollywood debut in "8 Mile" ... as well as "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," "The River Wild" and "In Her Shoes."