Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead at home, and the 95-year-old Hollywood star had lived quite the life with many wild stories
Gene Hackman might have been a Hollywood A-lister, but there are plenty of weird and wonderful facts about him from over the years that you might not know.
The star was sadly found dead at his Santa Fe Summit home at the age of 95, alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa and their pet dog. Gene had been suffering with ill health in recent years, and was pictured back in early 2024 looking frail and walking with a stick.
He had retired from the world of acting back in 2004 following advice from his heart doctor, saying the stress of acting was putting excess straight on his heart. Gene opted for the quiet life instead from then on with his beloved second wife Betsy.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza is reported to have confirmed that the couple and their dog had died on Wednesday afternoon, however there were no immediate signs of foul play. No cause of death or further information was given.
As the world remembers the double-Oscar-winning actor, Daily Star takes a look at some very interesting moments from his life.
Marine lie
Gene was born on January 30, 1930, in San Bernadino in California. As was common at the time, Gene left home at the age of just 16 and lied about his age in order to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Many young men lied and said they were older than they were, as it was before the advent of computer records to cross check. He went on to serve from 1947 to 1952 as a field radio operator and then as a broadcast journalist.
Military career
He went on to have an impressive military career, and was stationed in Qingdao in China, and then Shanghai. In an interview in later life he revealed he was tasked with destroying Japanese military equipment.
Hackman was also part of a major operation called Operation Beleaguer. It was led by Marine Corps Major General Keller E Rockey who commandeered 50,000 Marines of the III Marine Amphibious Corps.
After China, Gene went on to serve in Hawaii and Japan, and used his GI Bill benefits to study journalism and television production at the University of Illinois.
President row
President Nixon had a so-called “enemies list”, which Hackman was apparently very proud to be on. According to the Los Angeles Times fromFebruary 22, 1990: “Hackman is a liberal who proudly recalled making Nixon’s notorious ‘Enemies List’ because of his work for George McGovern.”
According to The New York Times, the list’s purpose was to “use the available Federal machinery to screw [their] political enemies”. Other names which appeared on the list include Bill Cosby, Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen.
Third career
As well as his military career and success as an actor, Gene Hackman also enjoyed another fruitful career as an author. He was credited as author for two novels and co-author of three more.
Gene wrote a contemporary thriller, called Pursuit, which “pits a devoted police sergeant against a predator who may cost her everything that matters”. He also wrote Payback At Morning Peak, a 19th-century Western novel about family, vengeance, and redemption.
Keen cyclist
Until his health began to fail, Hackman was an avid fan of getting out on his beloved Trek mountain bike. He was involved in an accident in 2012, where he was hit by a car while out cycling.
According to TMZ, it looked like he had been hit from behind by a car, as the wheel was folded almost in half. He told the repair staff that he wanted to keep the twisted wheel as a memento.
He was 81 years old at the time of the accident, and was flown to the hospital afterwards.
Close friend
Gene managed to sustain a close friendship with fellow actor Dustin Hoffman over the years, after they both started out in Hollywood at the same time. They were classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse in the 1950s, and both dropped out to move to New York.
Happily, they both had their big breaks in the same year, with Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde and Hoffman in The Graduate, both in 1967. They didn’t star together onscreen until 2003 for film Runaway Jury.
Hoffman and Hackman were both also close friends with Robert Duvall.
Dog lover
Tragically, Gene and his wife were found with one of their dogs nearby. The couple were previously reported to have owned two German shepherds, but had owned three in the 1990s.
One of his dogs was called Gene, and he sweetly adopted him after the dog wandered onto the set of The Replacements while they were shooting in Baltimore. Two dogs were found walking around, one was named Gene and Keanu after Hackman’s co-star, and the animal shelter says they were brought in by limo.
Gene later returned to adopt his namesake pooch.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
