Gene Hackman, Academy Award-Winning Actor, Dies at 95

Gene Hackman, the Academy Award-winning actor whose breakout Broadway role paved the way to a career in film, has died. Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, along with their dog, were found dead on February 26 in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the deaths, saying there was no significant signs of foul play but did not provide a cause of death. Hackman was 95.

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California. After serving four-and-a-half years as a field-radio operator in the United States Marine Corps—he had lied about his age to join—he studied journalism and television production at the University of Illinois before pursuing acting.

In 1956, Hackman joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, befriending fellow actor Dustin Hoffman. The pair were voted “The Least Likely to Succeed” by their classmates. Moving to New York, he acted in off-Broadway plays before making his Broadway debut in 1963 in the play Children From Their Games, followed by the similarly short-lived A Rainy Day in Newark.

Hackman’s next Broadway role in Muriel Resnick’s Any Wednesday—The New York Times noted his “youthful vigor” in the role—attracted the attention of Hollywood agents. Hackman was subsequently cast in the film Lilith alongside Warren Beatty.

In 1967, Hackman starred in the comedy The Natural Look on Broadway; the comedy lasted for only one performance. The same year, he starred in the game-changing New Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde, again alongside Beatty, earning an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

By then, Hackman was finding steady work in movies. He would eventually build a reputation for playing uncommon everymen seething with what the Times would call “volcanic undercurrents.” He earned his first Academy Award for his role in The French Connection (1971) and his second for Unforgiven (1992). Hackman made one final appearance on the Broadway stage in Death and the Maiden, also in 1992, directed by Mike Nichols.

Later films include Get Shorty (1995), Enemy of the State (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).

He is survived by his children from his first marriage.