Legendary actor Gene Hackman, who was 95, has died.
The Hollywood star was discovered at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, 63, on Wednesday. The couple’s dog was also found dead. After responding to a welfare check request, law enforcement entered the home around 1:45 pm. Local officials say there are no signs of foul play, per Associated Press, but the cause of death was not immediately revealed, and authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
According to TMZ, Hackman’s daughter speculates that carbon monoxide poisoning could be the cause.
Hackman played many different types of roles throughout his decades-long career, including being cast as villains, heroes, and antiheroes in many dramas, comedies, and action films.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee, winning twice: once for “The French Connection” (1972) and again for “Unforgiven” (1992).
He’s also known for films such as “I Never Sang for My Father” (1970) and “Mississippi Burning” (1988). Hackman played Lex Luthor in “Superman” (1978) and the sequel “Superman II” (1980).
He also acted in: “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), “Scarecrow” (1973), “The Conversation” (1974), “A Bridge Too Far” (1977), “Under Fire” (1983), “Power” (1986), “Loose Cannons” (1990), “The Firm” (1993), “The Quick and the Dead” (1995), “The Birdcage” (1996), “Enemy of the State” (1998), “Behind Enemy Lines” (2001) and “Runaway Jury” (2003).
His final Hollywood project was a starring role in “Welcome to Mooseport” (2004).
Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1930 and moved around a lot with his family. He often went to the movies for entertainment and looked up to the actors he saw on screen, including his favorite, James Cagney, per People.
The actor recalled his father abandoning the family when he was 13. “It was so precise. Maybe that’s why I became an actor,” Hackman told Vanity Fair in 2013 of his father waving goodbye. “I doubt I would’ve become so sensitive to human behavior if that hadn’t happened to me as a child — if I hadn’t realized how much one small gesture can mean.”
Hackman enlisted in the Marines three years later and served until he was 19. He married Faye Maltese in 1956, and they moved to California, where he joined the Pasadena Playhouse and befriended aspiring actor Dustin Hoffman.
Then he was kicked out of the Playhouse and moved to New York, where he took minor roles, including one in the Arthur Miller play “A View From the Bridge.” He didn’t break into Hollywood until he was in his mid-30s and cast in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), which earned the actor his first Academy Award nomination.
He became nationally recognized after scoring the lead in “The French Connection,” for which he took home the Best Actor award at the Oscars.
Hackman and Maltese divorced after 30 years of marriage and three children together. He met Arakawa while she was working at a California gym in the mid-1980s, AP noted, and married her in 1991. Their Santa Fe home was featured in Architectural Digest in 1990.
Hollywood is mourning the loss, with director Francis Ford Coppola sharing 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.”
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Coppola shared a photo of himself with Hackman, who he cast in the 1974 neo-noir mystery thriller “The Conversation.”
Actor George Takei wrote, “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it. He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”