Hollywood legend and two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman was found dead, aged 95, alongside his musician wife Betsy Akaway and their pet dog on Thursday (February 27)
There was one movie Gene Hackman didn’t care to revisit.
The Hollywood legend was found dead at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Wednesday (February 26) alongside his musician wife Betsy Arakawa, as well as their dog. When their death was announced, law enforcement said they suspected no signs of foul play in relation to the deaths.
It’s since been claimed by the two-time Oscar winner’s daughter that his family believe carbon monoxide poisoning may have caused his death. However, this has not yet been confirmed.
One of Hackman’s most memorable performances was as detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in the 1971 crime drama The French Connection. He even won an Academy Award for the role, but he decided the film wasn’t worth re-watching and questioned its “legacy”.
In 2021, he told New York Post: “I haven’t seen the film since the first screening in a dark, tiny viewing room in a post-production company’s facility 50 years ago. If the film has a legacy, I am not sure what that would be.
“At the time, it seemed to me to be a reverent story of a cop who was simply able to solve and put a stop to a major crime family’s attempt to infiltrate the New York drug scene.”
However, he did credit the film with helping him in his career, saying: “The film certainly helped me in my career, and I am grateful for that.” He also admitted the film was indeed “a moment” in a career of “hits and misses”.
Discussing the film’s famous car chase, Hackman believed it wasn’t as good as another movie that had come out a few years prior. He said “there was a better one filmed a few years earlier with Steve McQueen”, referencing the 1968 film Bullitt.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said of Hackman’s death: “We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail. This is an active investigation – however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
