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Fox News
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Gene Hackman was abandoned by dad, kicked out of acting school before finding Hollywood success
Gene Hackman turned a painful childhood and years of rejection into a successful and legendary Hollywood career. Gene – who died from heart disease with Alzheimer's as a significant contributing factor, about one week after his wife Betsy died from hantavirus – had always had a love and interest in movies, admiring James Cagney, Errol Flynn and Edward G. Robinson. "I loved the idea that somebody could convince me that they were a sea captain without being phony. I'd grown up shy—not unusual for actors. They want to show they're more than that—people of import, substance. I think because I was shy, I felt insecure, and acting seemed like a way of maybe getting around that. Getting to be somebody," he told Vanity Fair in 2004. Born on January 30, 1930, Gene was raised in Danville, Illinois, by his mother, Anna. When Gene was 13, his father left the family, an event that influenced his pursuit of acting. "It was a real adios," he told Vanity Fair. "It was so precise. Maybe that's why I became an actor. I doubt I would have 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." During a 2001 appearance on "Inside the Actors Studio," Gene recounted the last time he saw his father, becoming emotional as he spoke. "I was down the street playing with some guys, and he drove by and kind of waved . . . " Gene said before trailing off and looking visibly teary-eyed. After Lipton asked whether he had been close to his mother, Gene stayed quiet before clearing his throat and apologizing. "It's only been 65 years or so," he said with a laugh, breaking the tension, though still looking slightly uncomfortable. Lipton noted, "It's not something that goes away easily, is it?" to which Gene replied, "It probably makes you a better actor, I don't know." "I don't advocate that," he added, explaining, "You get in touch with your feelings, and that's what we're here for. I think the more that you can draw on that kind of thing . . . get something out of it." Gene did credit his mother as the individual who recognized something in him, encouraging him to pursue acting. Speaking with GQ in 2011, the "Bonnie and Clyde" star confirmed a story that she once took him to the movie theater and told him she wanted to "see you do that someday." "She did say that. I would have been 10. Things parents say to children are oftentimes not heard, but in some cases, you pick up on things that your parent would like to see you have done." He added, "Unfortunately, my mom never saw me act, so I'm sorry for that, but that's the way it is." Gene's mother died in a fire lit by a burning cigarette, according to a Los Angeles Times profile on the actor. He also said he had "buried the hatchet" before his father died. In his GQ interview, he shared that he wished his mother could have seen his performance in "I Never Sang for My Father," a 1970 drama about a professor dealing with his aging father, which earned him his first Oscar nomination, in the best supporting actor category. "It was a real adios. It was so precise. Maybe that's why I became an actor." "I thought it was a sensitive picture about family and relationships, and I think she would have been proud and happy to see that," he said. "You're fortunate sometimes to be able to do something in life that defines who you are and who your parents may have wanted you to be." Prior to making it big, Gene had enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. "I met Gene in acting school, at the Pasadena Playhouse, when he was 27, and I was 19. We used to play congas together on the roof, trying to be like our hero Marlon Brando," Hoffman told Fox News Digital after Gene's death. "And Gene was like Brando, in that he brought something unprecedented to our craft, something people didn't immediately understand as genius: He was expelled from our school after three months for 'not having talent.' It was the first time they ever did that. He was that good." Hoffman continued, "Powerful, subtle, brilliant. A giant among actors. I miss him already." Both actors were voted "least likely to succeed" at the playhouse. "I think the highest I ever got was a 1.4 [GPA]," Gene said in a 1984 interview with KCRA 3, noting he had nothing against the Pasadena Playhouse, just that it's "tough to grade actors." Gene and Hoffman eventually moved to New York, where they also hung out with Robert Duvall, and the trio spent years working jobs and looking for acting work. Gene worked as a shoe salesman, a furniture mover, and a doorman, where he ran into one of his former Marine officers who muttered, "Hackman, you're a sorry son of a bitch," as he recalled to Vanity Fair. Gene had joined the Marines at 16, lying about his age to enlist, and served just under five years before being discharged in 1951. Speaking with Hoffman and Duvall in the interview, the "The Conversation" star described the grind of auditioning. WATCH: GENE HACKMAN'S FRIEND RECALLS OSCAR WINNER'S PHYSICAL FITNESS "No one starts at the top in the theater, and the bottom is a very ugly place," he told the outlet. "It was madness," Gene said of open calls. "A cattle call, they called it. A lot of people would get physical about where they were in line, and who had to go to work, so let me in front of you so I can get the hell out." He once auditioned for Gene Kelly for a musical he was directing, which didn't go well. After Gene sang, Kelly approached him and said, "Nice try. Musicals are hard." The rejection and struggle fueled Gene's desire to continue acting, if for no other reason than to prove doubters wrong. As he said to Vanity Fair, "it was more psychological warfare, because I wasn't going to let those f--kers get me down. I insisted with myself that I would continue to do whatever it took to get a job. It was like me against them, and in some way, unfortunately, I still feel that way." "But I think if you're really interested in acting, there is a part of you that relishes the struggle. It's a narcotic in the way that you are trained to do this work and nobody will let you do it, so you're a little bit nuts. You lie to people, you cheat, you do whatever it takes to get an audition, get a job," he continued. After years of work, Gene landed his breakout role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in "The French Connection," winning his first Oscar for best actor. He went on to fill even more memorable roles, like the villainous Lex Luthor in "Superman" and basketball coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers," and picked up a second Oscar as best supporting actor in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven." In 2004, after decades of work, Gene appeared in his final film, "Welcome to Mooseport," co-starring Ray Romano. In a 2008 interview with Reuters, Gene later confirmed he was done acting. "I haven't held a press conference to announce retirement, but, yes, I'm not going to act any longer," he told the outlet. "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." Speaking to GQ about his legacy in 2011, Gene said he wanted to be remembered "as a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what was given to them in an honest fashion. I don't know, beyond that." Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright contributed to this story.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gene Hackman death investigators say pills found at scene of his shock passing are ‘of concern'
Gene Hackman death investigators say pills found at the scene of his shock passing are 'of concern'. The late actor, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, were found dead in their Santa Fe home last week, with investigators saying it could take weeks to determine the cause of their deaths. Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County has now told reporters pills discovered near Betsy's body were "of concern" – but stressed no conclusions had yet been reached about their role in the pair's passings. He said: "Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual. "The manner and cause of death have not been determined. The official results of the autopsy and toxicology reports are pending." Gene was a two-time Oscar-winning actor known for roles in 'The French Connection', 'Unforgiven', 'I Never Sang for My Father' and 'Bonnie and Clyde'. He was found on the floor of a wet room in the couple's mansion on Wednesday, 26 February. His wife Betsy was found in a bathroom next to a heater, and one of their three dogs was discovered dead in a cupboard. The remaining two were rescued alive. Investigators are attempting to establish the timeline of their deaths. Gene's pacemaker registered its last event on 17 February – nine days before his body was found. Sheriff Mendoza said: "According to the pathologist, I think that is a very good assumption, that that was his last day of life." Authorities initially considered carbon monoxide poisoning but later ruled it out following an examination by the medical examiner. The sheriff confirmed a prescription bottle and scattered pills were found near Betsy and were "significant evidence" in the case. He added: "Whether they or other drugs were a factor won't be known until toxicology tests are completed." Officers are expected to interview Gene's three children from his first marriage to gather more information about the couple's final days. Gene, who married Betsy in 1991, retired from acting in 2004 after a career spanning six decades.
New York Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Gene Hackman's Gritty, Grouchy, Old-School Style
In the decades separating the suave Cary Grant from the willowy Timothée Chalamet, there was a leading man with a rougher kind of charm. Even in his box-office heyday, Gene Hackman had a receding hairline and a paunch. He could pass for 50 when he was 30. He described himself as a 'big lummox kind of person.' His first noteworthy role came alongside Jean Seberg in the 1964 film 'Lillith.' Ms. Seberg said she found Mr. Hackman handsome because his face had so much character to it — but she didn't believe he would go very far in an industry that favored Warren Beatty and other more conventionally attractive men. But changing attitudes demanded a new kind of star, and Mr. Hackman arrived when the sharp-focus cinema of the midcentury years gave way to the grainier palette of the 1970s, a time when the line between hero and antihero was blurring. He was 40 when he had his first leading role, in the drama 'I Never Sang for My Father.' The next year he put on a porkpie hat to play the vicious cop Popeye Doyle in 'The French Connection,' a performance that won him the first of his two Oscars. In keeping with his Midwestern upbringing, he was modest and polite, but he was not always able to keep his anger in check. He had a habit of arguing with film executives, producers and directors — anyone in a position of authority. News of his death came during a week when the nicely coifed movie stars of the social media age were glad-handing their way through the final rounds of an expensive and elaborate Academy Awards campaign. Suddenly, the irascibility at the heart of Mr. Hackman's work and persona seemed like a relic of the days when actors were not so eager to smile on cue, not so willing to play the game. He had a leading role in 'The Poseidon Adventure,' one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1970s, but he tended to disparage the film in interviews, and he turned down a chance to take part in a planned sequel, even when he was offered a nice payday. He recounted the story of his refusal on a 1974 episode of 'The Tonight Show.' Seated next to Johnny Carson, who took drags now and then from a cigarette, Mr. Hackman was the very model of the '70s-style leading man, with his unkempt sideburns, thinning hair, thick mustache, wide-lapel blazer and undone brown collared shirt as he made fun of the movie-industry executives and their crackpot plan. 'They called me,' he said, 'and I said, 'Well, yeah, but I got killed in the last five minutes of the film.' 'Well, we'll get around it.' I said, 'I don't think so.'' While making 'The Package,' a forgettable 1980s thriller, he angrily delayed a nighttime shoot on the streets of Chicago because of what he perceived as a flaw in the script. His character, an expert marksman, was called upon to fire his weapon nine times at a fleeing bad guy. With the temperature near zero, he got into an extended debate with a producer, arguing that his character was too skilled with a gun to keep missing like that. His obstinacy, integrity and occasional storminess bled into his characters and became a major part of his appeal, making him an alluring figure to moviegoers unstirred by Mr. Beatty or another classic leading man of the time, Robert Redford. His life experience further set him apart from his hunkier rivals. He worked in a steel mill one summer during his high school years and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age 17. After putting in four years of military service, he earned his living as a shoe salesman, a soda jerk, a truck driver, a janitor and a doorman while trying to make a name for himself in New York and California. He was constantly underestimated. As a 26-year-old would-be professional, he was drummed out of the Pasadena Playhouse for having 'no talent," he said. A decade later, he was fired from the cast of 'The Graduate' during rehearsals. He stoked his resentment against those who had slighted him and used it as fuel. Francis Ford Coppola said Mr. Hackman seemed utterly miserable during the filming of the 1974 surveillance thriller 'The Conversation.' Well, he had his reasons for his low mood on set. 'The misery was partially Coppola's fault,' he explained in an interview with The New York Times, 'because he had let it be known that he wanted [Marlon] Brando for that role, and Brando didn't want to do it. I loved the idea of the role, but I also knew that I was second choice.' Most actors are flattered when an acclaimed auteur writes them a part. But Mr. Hackman was flat-out irritated when Wes Anderson told him he was writing a character — the mercurial patriarch Royal Tenenbaum — specifically for him. 'He said, 'I don't like it when people write for me, because you don't know me, and I don't want what you think is me,'" Mr. Anderson recalled. During the making of 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' Mr. Hackman gave Mr. Anderson hell and alienated his fellow cast members. Ten years later, during an anniversary screening of the movie at the New York Film Festival, his co-stars Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray publicly called him out for his behavior. Mr. Hackman had simply not bothered to tell anyone that his obstreperousness was part of his grouchy, old-school process. 'There was great love on the set,' he said in an interview shortly after the film was released. 'Yet at the same time I was very conflicted, because people were much younger than me and I felt left out or ignored. And that wasn't even true. I knew it wasn't true, but I used it anyway.' As a child of the Depression in Danville, Ill., he dreamed of becoming an actor. But when he compared himself to the square-jawed swashbucklers on the silver screen, he felt unworthy of his ambition, even ashamed of himself for entertaining the notion that he could be a star. 'I would come out of the theater having seen an Errol Flynn movie and look in the mirror in the lobby of the theater and be stunned that I didn't look like that guy,' he said in a 1986 interview. 'I desperately wanted to do it, but I never really thought I could until much later.' It turned out that Mr. Hackman possessed something better than mere handsomeness. It was a stubborn life force that couldn't help but come through whenever he was on camera. It made him more memorable than any matinee idol.
South China Morning Post
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, wife and pet dog found dead at home
Gene Hackman, the intense character actor who won two Oscars in a more than 60-year career, has died alongside his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog at home, the sheriff's office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said on Thursday. Advertisement A statement from the sheriff said deputies had found the 95-year-old actor and Arakawa, 64, deceased on Wednesday afternoon at around 1.45pm. 'Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time, however exact cause of death has not been determined. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office,' it said. Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s. Gene Hackman won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1993. File photo: AP He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde. He was also nominated for best supporting actor in 1971 for I Never Sang for My Father.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead in Santa Fe Home, Oscar Winner Was 95
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed. A cause of death for the Oscar-winning actor, 95, and his wife, 63, was not revealed but Mendoza said no foul play was suspected. Their dog was also found deceased. Hackman and Arakawa, a classical pianist, married in 1991. An acting giant, Hackman was born in San Bernadino, California and enlisted in the military at age 16, lying about his age to get in. He served over four years as a field operator in the Marines before pursuing acting in 1956 at the San Bernadino Playhouse alongside another performer who would similarly define cinema acting throughout the second half of the 20th century: Dustin Hoffman. In the 1960s, Hackman toggled between Broadway and television before earning his first Oscar nomination for 'Bonnie and Clyde,' a Best Supporting Actor nod for the role of Buck Barrow. His second came for 1970's 'I Never Sang for My Father,' and he won the Best Actor Oscar for his iconic turn as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in William Friedkin's 1971 action-thriller classic 'The French Connection.' Hackman was prolific throughout the 1970s, vacillating between drama ('Scarecrow'), action ('The Poseidon Adventure') and comedy ('Young Frankenstein') and solidifying himself as one of the best actors of his generation. Few performers defined the term 'command the screen' better than Hackman, even in quiet, introspective roles like Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Conversation,' one of several career-defining turns. He was a thrilling Lex Luthor in Richard Donner's 'Superman,' an inspiring basketball coach in 'Hoosiers' and earned his second Best Actor Oscar nomination for 1988's 'Mississippi Burning.' He kicked off the 1990s with yet another iconic turn in Clint Eastwood's Western 'Unforgiven,' for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Hackman spent the rest of the '90s going toe-to-toe with up-and-coming great actors onscreen: Tom Cruise in 'The Firm,' Denzel Washington in 'Crimson Tide,' Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Quick and the Dead,' Will Smith in 'Enemy of the State.' But one of his best performances was in Mike Nichols' 1996 comedy 'The Birdcage,' in which he played a Republican senator opposite a flamboyantly gay Robin Williams. The film culminates in Hackman dressing in drag. Notoriously prickly, Hackman reached an entirely new generation with his turn as reluctant patriarch Royal Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson's 2001 film 'The Royal Tenenbaums.' Despite frequently butting heads with Anderson and co-star Anjelica Huston on set, it's still one of his most beloved roles. Hackman retired from acting for good after 2004's comedy flop 'Welcome to Mooseport' and lived the rest of his life in quiet solitude in Santa Fe. While many hoped he'd be lured back for one more great film to go out on top, the actor held fast to his decision to walk away from Hollywood. Nobody was gonna tell Gene Hackman what to do. The post Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead in Santa Fe Home, Oscar Winner Was 95 appeared first on TheWrap.
