Some very sad news to report this morning as it has been announced that legendary American actor Gene Hackman has passed away aged 95, having been found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa and their family dog at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although details are yet to be confirmed regarding a cause of death, police are reporting that foul play is not suspected at this time.
Born in San Bernardino, California, Hackman began acting on the stage in the mid-1950s and would go on to enjoy enormous success over the following decades in a glittering career that would see him honoured with multiple accolades, including two Oscars, and four Golden Globes.
After various television roles in the late 50s and early 60s, Hackman made the jump to the big screen, his first credited role coming alongside Jean Seberg and Warren Beatty in 1964’s Lilith., and just three years later he would find himself nominated for his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. A second Best Supporting Actor nomination would follow for 1970’s I Never Sang For My Father, before he would receive his first Academy Award the following year – the Best Actor gong for his role as Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection.
Following his first Oscar win, Hackman entered the most prolific decade of his career, starring in the likes of The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Scarecrow (1974), The Conversation (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), French Connection II (1975), Night Moves (1975) and A Bridge Too Far (1977) as well as 1978’s Superman: The Movie, where he portrayed the iconic DC supervillain Lex Luthor opposite Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel., later returning as the character in 1980’s Superman II and 1987’s Superman IV: A Quest for Peace.
Hackman would continue to work steadily across the next three decades, collecting his second Oscar with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Clint Eastwood’s 1992 classic Unforgiven, and appearing in a host of high profile films including No Way Out (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), The Firm (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Get Shorty (1995), Enemy of the State (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003). His last feature film came in 2004 with Welcome to Mooseport.
