Gene Hackman, the Oscar-winning actor whose gruff but soulful turns in classics such as “The French Connection,” “The Conversation” and “Unforgiven” made him one of the most respected performers in Hollywood, died Wednesday.
He was 95.
Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, a classical pianist, were found dead in separate rooms in their Sante Fe, New Mexico, home, according to a search warrant that described their deaths as "suspicious."
Authorities are probing the circumstances surrounding their deaths, which the search warrant said were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation." Officials said that there was no obvious sign of foul play but that they could not rule it out.
In a statement, Hackman's family said he was "loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss."
In a remarkable acting career that spanned six decades, Hackman established himself as one of the most distinctive and dependable film stars of his generation. He was part of a group of unconventional leading men who helped define the “New Hollywood” cinema of the 1970s, but he was just as prominent across the '80s and '90s.
He won his first Oscar for his portrayal of the ferocious detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s “The French Connection,” taking the wheel for arguably the most electrifying car chase in movie history. He riveted audiences in Francis Ford Coppola’s paranoid thriller “The Conversation” and delighted younger viewers as villainous Lex Luthor in “Superman.”
Hackman, who seemed drawn to projects that explored moral gray areas, earned his second Oscar for his supporting work as the brutal Sheriff Little Bill Daggett in “Unforgiven,” Clint Eastwood’s revisionist Western drama.
In all, Hackman earned two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes (including an honorary prize), one Screen Actors Guild Award and two British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). He also landed Oscar nominations for his roles in the seminal outlaws-on-the-run drama “Bonnie & Clyde,” the character study “I Never Sang for My Father” and the divisive thriller “Mississippi Burning.”
Hackman was born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California. He roamed across the country with his father, Eugene, and his mother, Lyda, before they put down roots in Illinois. Hackman dropped out of school at 16 and fibbed about his age to join the U.S. Marines. He was trained as a radio operator and served in China, where he picked up work as a disc jockey.
He took his talents to the radio industry, moving to New York City following his military discharge to learn the trade at the School of Radio Technique. He eventually switched gears and decided to pursue acting, enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse in Southern California, where he was deemed least likely to succeed.
In time, Hackman left Pasadena and moved back to New York, where he roomed with fellow striving thespians Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. George Morrison, a former instructor at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, took Hackman under his wing and schooled him in the Method technique, teaching him to draw from personal experiences in his acting.
Hackman started to get gigs in theater and on various television shows, such as the first episode of the CBS courtroom drama “The Defenders,” and in 1964 he landed his first meaty movie part alongside Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg in the psychological drama “Lilith.”
Beatty and Hackman teamed up again for Hackman’s breakout role in “Bonnie & Clyde,” a shockingly violent crime drama that mixed classic outlaw archetypes with the energy of the French New Wave and the puckish spirit of the American counterculture. Hackman brought unexpected pathos to the part of Buck, the older brother of Beatty’s bank robber Clyde Barrow.
Hackman picked up more film work in the late 1960s, including as a quietly intense Olympic coach in “Downhill Racer.” But with “The French Connection,” Hackman catapulted to new heights of fame and acclaim. In the role of vulgar, bigoted New York City narcotics cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, Hackman delivered a masterclass in sheer live-wire energy.
“The French Connection” sped to five Oscars, including best picture and best actor for Hackman. The thriller propelled Hackman to memorable turns in “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Scarecrow,” a 1975 “French Connection” sequel, “Night Moves,” “A Bridge Too Far” and the blockbuster “Superman.”
Hackman’s portrayal of obsessive surveillance expert Harry Caul in “The Conversation” was a highlight of his 1970s filmography. Hackman, tamping down the volcanic anger that fueled “The French Connection,” created an introverted character ravaged by paranoia and suspicion. The film and Hackman’s tragic performance brilliantly captured the unease of the Watergate era.
He entered one of the busiest stretches of his career in the 1980s, taking on a combination of leading roles and supporting parts in various dramas, action flicks and romances. He played a magazine editor in Beatty’s epic “Reds,” a small-town basketball coach in “Hoosiers” and the secretary of defense in the noirish political thriller “No Way Out.”
Hackman capped his busy 1980s run with “Mississippi Burning,” playing an FBI agent, a role based on real-life investigator John Proctor, who was looking into the mysterious disappearances of three civil rights volunteers in a fictional Mississippi county. Hackman was praised for his acting but the movie was fiercely criticized for appearing to whitewash history and marginalize Black characters.
“Unforgiven,” released in 1992, brought Hackman some of the best notices of his career. The movie picked up four Oscars, including the best picture prize and best supporting actor for Hackman, and six years later the film earned a spot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 best American movies ever made.
In the 1990s, Hackman continued to work at a steady clip and frequently played a grizzled foil to younger stars, including Tom Cruise in “The Firm,” Denzel Washington in “Crimson Tide,” Robin Williams in “The Birdcage” and Will Smith in “Enemy of the State,” a frenetic surveillance thriller that paid homage to “The Conversation.”
Hackman endeared himself to a new generation of moviegoers as the deeply flawed but rakishly charming family patriarch in Wes Anderson’s 2001 ensemble film “The Royal Tenenbaums,” showing off his comedic chops and a more mischievous side of his public persona.
Three years later, Hackman left Hollywood behind, making his final film appearance in the largely forgotten Ray Romano vehicle “Welcome to Mooseport.” In a rare 2004 interview, Hackman told Larry King that he did not have any film projects in the pipeline and expected that his screen acting days were mostly behind him.
He remained creative even in retirement, however, writing four historical fiction novels — “Wake of the Perdido Star,” “Justice for None,” “Escape From Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War” and “Payback at Morning Peak: A Novel of the American West” — as well as the 2013 police thriller “Pursuit.”
Hackman, who spent his final years in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is survived by three children — Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie — from his first marriage to Faye Maltese.
