Hollywood pays tribute to Gene Hackman, 95, and wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, found dead along with pet dog
Police in Santa Fe revealed Hackman was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog on Wednesday.
Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola has led tributes to Gene Hackman after the star was found dead at his home in New Mexico aged 95.
Police in Santa Fe revealed he was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog on Wednesday.
Local police have indicated there are no signs of foul play.
Coppola on Thursday mourned the loss of Hackman.
“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Coppola wrote in a post on Instagram.
“I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”
Tributes immediately started flooding in following the news, with celebrities and fans sharing their thoughts on social media.
Star Trek legend George, 87, wrote: “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen.
“Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it.
“He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe.
“That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”
Comedian Dara O Briain said: “Ah, Gene Hackman. The finest screen actor ever, I think.
“Not a single duff performance, in a long, long career. And the best delivery ever of a single word: when he says ‘Cigars!’ In Young Frankenstein.”
Hackman is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the tough and vulgar New York cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 crime thriller The French Connection - for which he won an Oscar for best actor.
He won another golden statuette two decades later for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the brutal small-town sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in the 1992 western Unforgiven.
Throughout his acting career, Hackman drew on his talents and versatility, taking on a series of gritty roles and delivering thoughtful, intelligent performances.
“It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on screen,” the actor once said.
“I think of myself, and feel like I’m quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.”
Unlikely star
Born in Illinois during the Great Depression, Hackman came from a broken family.
His father left when he was 13, waving enigmatically as he drove away one day, and his mother later died in a fire.
Hackman later used his personal turmoil as fuel to flesh out his characters.
He was an unlikely star, coming to acting relatively late in life after dabbling in a series of jobs, and only attracting attention in his 30s.
According to Hollywood legend, after his enrolment at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in the late 1950s, he and a fellow student, one Dustin Hoffman, were voted the “least likely to succeed.”
Upon graduation, Hackman earned work off-Broadway and began to turn heads.
He earned his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in Bonnie and Clyde.
That landmark 1967 film, in which Hackman played Clyde’s brother Buck Barrow, put him firmly on track for stardom.
Hackman notched up dozens of film credits in his career, working well into his 60s and 70s although he stayed out of the limelight, instead writing and painting.
Into the 21st century, he starred in The Heist and The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, the latter winning him his third competitive Golden Globe, before announcing his retirement in 2008.
-With AFP
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