Mystery currently surrounds the death of the two time Oscar winner, found with his wife and dog, with no cause of death having currently been revealed by the Sherriff’s department
Celebrated Hollywood Star Gene Hackman has been found dead at his Santa Fe home along with his wife and dog.
The Superman star known for his part as Lex Luther died age 95 roughly 20 years after retiring his screen work.
Mystery currently surrounds the death of the two time Oscar winner, with no cause of death having currently been revealed by the Sherriff’s department.
Initial reports suggest that the death is not being treated as suspicious and there were no clear signs of foul play. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza reportedly confirmed the deaths in the early hours of Thursday.
According to Santa Fe New Mexican, Mendoza said: “All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant. I want to assure the community and neighbourhood that there’s no immediate danger to anyone.”
Who was Gene Hackman’s wife?
Gene Hackman was married to classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, 63, who he was found dead alongside at their Santa Fe home.
The couple had become reclusive from the public eye in the final years, with sightings of the pair out in public rare.
People magazine reports that The French Conection star met the former fitness worker at the gym, who is reportedly from Hawaii and was born in the early ’60s.
The couple’s home, previously an abandoned block building from the 1950s, was a featured in Archetectural digest, with Betsy understood to have played a big part in its design and Gene involved in “every aspect of the house”.
Despite this, Betsy is known to be very private with no social media accounts known of and having given no interviews in her life to the press.
This, it has been speculated, may be the reason the couple chose to live in Santa Fe Speaking to the Irish Independent, Gene previously said: “Where we live, in Santa Fe, you can lead your own life and not be bothered by the latest gossip”.
Gene Hackman’s dog
Heartbreakingly, Gene hackman’s dog was also found among the dead at the Santa Fe home. He has previously been reported to have had two German Shepherds although it is not clear which dog was found he and Betsy’s remains. Reports from People Magazie report that the couple had previously had three German Shepherds in the 1990s, according to reporting from the Baltimore
The third dogis reported to have been adopted to join the first pair.
Hackman is understood top have adopted a dog called Gene, which wandered onto the set of the Replacements in Baltimore. The dog had arrived with another and the pair were taken to an animal shelter where they were given the names Gene and Keanu.
Gene would later to go on and adopt, unsurprisngly, Gene.
Gene Hackman’s children and marriage history
Betsy Arakawa wasn’t Gene Hackman’s first wife, having been married from Faye Maltese who died in 2017.
Gene Hackman had three children, two sons and a daughter, with her.
The Unforgiven star’s three kids with Faye, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Hackman, are reported to have at times not seen much of their father as he was out making films a lot of the time they were growing up.
He told the Irish Independent in 2000, he said: “It’s tough being the son or daughter of a celebrity. I couldn’t always be home with them when they were growing up and then, living in California, they’ve had my success always hanging over their heads.”
The Heartbreakers star’s kids are understood to have had Betsy as a stepmum.
Gene Hackman’s secret he wanted to find
Hackman was obsessed with the work of Jack Nicholson and studied his work to try and learn things. He said: “I go to a Jack Nicholson movie hoping that he’ll let me in on his secrets–how to get girls or how to get ahead in the world. He always seems to know something that I’d like to know myself. But he never tells me what it is. And yet I go, film after film, hoping that this will be the one where I find out his secret.”
Gene Hackman retirement
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Gene worked consistently and starred in the likes of ‘The Birdcage’, ‘Absolute Power’ and ‘Heist’ before bowing out of the movie business altogether following his appearance in the 2004 comedy ‘Welcome to Mooseport’.
On his retirement, he told Larry King: “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”
Hackman retired quietly, telling Reuters in 2008: “I haven’t held a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I’m not going to act any longer”.
Two years later, Gene noted that he would only consider a return to the spotlight if he could do it from his own home..He told GQ: “If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.”Gene’s final two appearances came in the form of ‘The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima’ and ‘We, the Marines’ in 2016 and 2017, where he provided the narration for both documentaries.
Gene Hackman and President Richard Nixon
Gene Hackman previously said he was proud to on the enemies list of President Richard Nixon and was a staunch Democrat supporter himself.
Despite this, the Jacksonville Jaguars fan has previously spoken fndly about President Ronald Reagan.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
