An acting giant has passed on.
Gene Hackman, 95, and wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, along with their dog, were found dead by Santa Fe authorities. Foul play has been ruled out. To make it all the way to 95 only to be taken away this way.
Hackman was one of the great actors of the ‘70s, standing toe to toe with De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman and Nicholson. He continued on with the great performances in the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s. What a man. What a career. The term “legend” should not be used in vain, but Hackman was just that.
He looked like a character actor, but was really a star. He always seemed to find a role that mixed character acting and movie stardom. Known for playing ordinary characters with intensity and often charm, tough yet vulnerable, Hackman was nominated for five Oscars and won two.
“There’s no identifiable quality that makes Mr. Hackman stand out,” Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times in 1988. “He simply makes himself outstandingly vital and real.”
David Fincher — who tried to get Hackman for “Seven” — recently stated, “He might be the greatest motion picture actor of all time.”
Very rarely do you come across an actor who goes from protagonist to antagonist roles as seamlessly as he did. He could play a character as psychotic as Bill Daggett in “Unforgiven” and as desperately lonesome as Harry Caul in “The Conversation.” Hackman’s range was impressive.
For years I held out hope that Hackman would unretire as an actor, but that hope somewhat dwindled in the late aughts as I realized he was really done for good. Retired in a secluded part of Santa Fe, not willing to get back in the game. He led a solitary life in his final years.
Hackman unofficially retired from acting after 2004’s “Welcome to Mooseport.” He’s been missed ever since. In 2021, Hackman gave what would be his final interview, and his first in over a decade, to the New York Post, this in relation to the 50th anniversary of “The French Connection,” a film which featured his breakout role as Popeye Doyle.
The actor reflected on his subtle retirement in 2008, telling Reuters: “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.”
The essential works in Hackman’s vast and impressive filmography are endless; “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The French Connection,” “The Conversation,” “Night Moves,” “Superman II,” “Hoosiers,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Unforgiven,” “Crimson Tide,” “Get Shorty,” “Enemy of the State,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
Want more? “Heist,” “I Never Sang For My Mother,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Scarecrow,” “Young Frankenstein,” “A Bridge Too Far,” “Under Fire,” “No Way Out,” “The Birdcage,” “The Firm.” A giant.