 "Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, wife found dead; no foul play suspected")
Hollywood legend and two-time Academy Award winner Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95. He and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their home in the Santa Fe Summit community, US.
The two-time Oscar-winning actor and author was found dead along with his wife and their dog at their New Mexico home shortly after midnight on Thursday.
The county sheriff confirmed the discovery, stating that there was no immediate indication of foul play. However, he did not provide details regarding the cause of death or an estimated time of passing, The Guardian reported. Law enforcement officials quoted by local media confirmed that an active investigation is underway.
Hackman’s Hollywood career
Hackman was one of the most revered actors of his generation, with a career spanning over four decades. Best known for his performances in The French Connection, Superman, The Conversation, and Mississippi Burning he retired from acting in 2004. His rise to stardom was unconventional, achieving breakthrough success in his 30s and becoming a defining figure of 1970s cinema.
Born in 1930, Hackman served in the US Marine Corps in the late 1940s before turning to acting in the late 1950s. While training at the Pasadena Playhouse, he befriended fellow aspiring actor Dustin Hoffman. The two were famously voted “least likely to succeed,” a prediction they would both go on to defy.
After taking on small roles in television and theatre, Hackman made his film debut in Lilith (1964) alongside Warren Beatty. His big break came three years later when he portrayed Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde, earning his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Though he did not win, the recognition paved the way for leading roles.
In 1970, Hackman starred in I Never Sang for My Father, a father-son drama that earned him another Academy Award nomination. Reflecting on the experience in a 2002 interview, he admitted that he initially underestimated the project. However, a conversation with co-star Melvyn Douglas changed his perspective. Douglas advised him that his attitude would hinder his growth, prompting Hackman to take the craft more seriously.
The following year, Hackman cemented his place in Hollywood with The French Connection, an action thriller directed by William Friedkin. His portrayal of detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle won him his first Academy Award for Best Actor and elevated him to A-list status. Looking back on his career in a 2021 interview, he remarked that filmmaking had always been a mix of risk and reward, but he considered the film just one chapter in a career filled with both triumphs and setbacks.
Throughout the 1970s, Hackman balanced mainstream hits with critically acclaimed performances. He starred in The Poseidon Adventure and A Bridge Too Far, while also demonstrating his comedic range in Young Frankenstein and Superman, where he played the iconic villain Lex Luthor.
Some of his most celebrated performances came in films that initially flew under the radar, such as Night Moves, Scarecrow, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Palme d’Or-winning The Conversation.
Hackman spent his later years away from Hollywood, living a quiet life in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had resided since the 1980s. He married Arakawa in 1991, and the couple remained largely out of the public eye in their later years.