Oscar Winner Gene Hackman Dead at 95

in Movie

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Gene Hackman in ‘The Firm’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Preview:

Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95.
He was found dead with his wife, Betsy Arakawa at their home.
Hackman’s career spanned decades –– but he retired early.

Gene Hackman, the prolific Oscar-winning actor whose roles ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving villains and made him one of the industry’s most respected and honored performers, has been found dead along with his wife and dog at their home. He was 95.

Their death has already sent shockwaves around the acting community, and with the Oscars mere days away, the producers will likely be scrambling to include the two-time winner in the In Memoriam section.

Hackman had a propensity for a wide range of performances, from buffoons to driven, gruff heroes to scheming villains –– and in the likes of ‘Superman’s Lex Luthor, he combined two of them.

He was the model of a workmanlike actor not in performance –– when he did his job, he did better than most, but he let others worry about his image. Beyond the obligatory appearances at awards ceremonies, he limited his exposure to the social circuit and was openly disdainful of the business side of show business.

Gene Hackman in 1971’s ‘The French Connection.’ Photo courtesy of TCM.

This is what he told Film Comment in 1988:

“Actors tend to be shy people. There is perhaps a component of hostility in that shyness, and to reach a point where you don’t deal with others in a hostile or angry way, you choose this medium for yourself. Then you can express yourself and get this wonderful feedback.”

In 1956, Hackman married Fay Maltese, a bank teller he had met at a YMCA dance in New York. They had a son, Christopher, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, but divorced in the mid-1980s.

In 1991 he married Betsy Arakawa, a classical pianist. Arakawa moved with him to New Mexico, and they, along with their dog, were found dead on Wednesday during a welfare check. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Gene Hackman: Early Life and Career

Gene Hackman in ‘The Conversation’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California in 1930, and grew up in Danville, Illinois, where his father worked as a journalist.

His parents’ marriage was a dysfunctional one, and when his father would beat Gene to take out his anger issues, the young Hackman found refuge in movie theaters, identifying with such screen rebels as Errol Flynn and James Cagney.

Following his father’s abandoning the family, the situation only got worse, and a 16-year-old Hackman lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Marines.

Yet his attitude and constant getting into brawls didn’t make him a natural fit for the service –– he was demoted from the rank of corporal three times –– but he finally found somewhere to flourish at the unit’s radio station.

Yet still he wavered; having earned his high school degree in the Marines, he went to study journalism in Illinois before dropping out of college and moved to New York to study radio announcing. He worked in radio in Florida before returning to the Big Apple to instead study painting before a fateful move to an acting course at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

From there, it was once more back to New York and the long process of looking to land acting gigs alongside contemporaries such as Robert Duvall and Dustin Hoffman, working odd jobs to support himself.

Hackman began to score roles in off-Broadway theatrical productions, which led to film director Robert Rossen hiring him for a brief role in ‘Lilith,’ which starred Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg.

And so, a career was launched.

Gene Hackman: Memorable Movies and TV

(L to R) Valerie Perrine and Gene Hackman in ‘Superman II’. Photo: Warner Bros.

Yet even given his early roles, Hackman was no overnight sensation. He ploughed a familiar path through TV series and small roles in films, appearing on the small screen likes of ‘Naked City,’ ‘The Defenders,’ ‘Hawk,’ ‘The FBI,’ and ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in.’

It was Beatty who really gave Hackman a boost –– When Beatty began work on ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ which he produced and starred in, he remembered Hackman and cast him as bank robber Clyde Barrow’s outgoing brother. Hackman scored praise and an Oscar nomination (his first of five) for Best Supporting Actor.

Near-misses followed, including a role in ‘The Graduate’ and that of Mike Brady in TV institution ‘The Brady Bunch.’

A starring role followed in 1970 with ‘I Never Sang for My Father,’ as a man struggling to deal with a failed relationship with his dying father, Melvyn Douglas –– which obviously brought up deep issues. And despite his being the lead by any real description, he was again nominated by the Academy for Best Supporting Actor.

Real Oscar success would follow with William Friedkin’s ‘The French Connection,’ perhaps his breakout role, and which would land him the first of his two trophies.

From there, Hackman was off to the races, appearing in a wide variety of movies including ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation,’ ‘Young Frankenstein,’ ‘A Bridge Too Far,’ ‘Superman’ and its sequels (playing the iconic bald baddie Lex Luthor), ‘Bat*21’, ‘Mississippi Burning,’ ‘Loose Cannons,’ ‘The Firm,’ ‘The Quick and the Dead,’ ‘Crimson Tide,’ ‘Get Shorty,’ ‘The Birdcage,’ ‘Antz,’ ‘Enemy of the State,’ ‘The Mexican,’ ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ and ‘Runaway Jury.’

In amongst them was his other Oscar-winning role, that of the brutal, corrupt Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven.’

Gene Hackman: Retirement

Gene Hackman in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’. Photo: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

Despite his prolific career, Hackman knew when he wanted to call it quits. His final role was in 2004 comedy ‘Welcome to Mooseport,’ and he told Reuters in 2008 why he decided to step back:

“I haven’t held a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I’m not going to act any longer. I’ve been told not to say that over the last few years, in case some real wonderful part comes up, but I really don’t want to do it any longer.”

When not on film locations, Hackman enjoyed painting, stunt flying, stock car racing and deep sea diving. In his latter years, he wrote novels and lived on his ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on a hilltop looking out on the Colorado Rockies.

Gene Hackman: Tributes

Gene Hackman in ‘Hoosiers’. Photo: Orion Pictures.

Here’s what Coppola had to say about him on Instagram:

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity, I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”

Paul Feig wrote this on Twitter:

“So awful. Gene was such an inspiration to so many of us who love movies. So many brilliant roles. His performance in ‘The Conversation’ alone changed the way I looked at acting and what actors could bring to a role. Such an amazing career. RIP Mr. Hackman.”

And here’s what Viola Davis put on Instagram:

“Loved you in everything! ‘The Conversation,’ ‘The French Connection,’ ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ ‘Unforgiven’ — tough yet vulnerable. You were one of the greats. God bless those who loved you. Rest well, sir.”