What happened to Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa? Their final days

After his ‘suspicious’ death, the Hollywood star’s friends and daughter reflect on his real ‘glory days’ growing old and writing novels in New Mexico seclusion.

Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman lived a quiet life after he left Hollywood behind. Picture: Jeffrey Mayer/Wireimage/Getty Images

Gene Hackman clutched his cup of coffee like a man who might not get the chance to have another.

Visibly frail and wearing baggy jeans, he pottered around the garden with his three German shepherds, hunched forward as if walking into a gale.

Sightings of the Oscar-winning star who had largely retreated from public life over the past decade were few and far between among those who – like Hackman did after his first marriage broke down in the 1980s – moved to Santa Fe, an artistic and intimate city surrounded by the mountains of New Mexico.

When he did appear in public, however, it was hard for anyone watching not to notice how time had diminished the man who made a career playing tough guys. Long gone was the formidable frame of an actor who could hold his own against Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.

Hackman in Unforgiven, for which he won an Oscar. Picture: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Hackman out in Santa Fe with his wife last year. Picture: Splash/The Times

On one of his last sightings, when he was pictured buying coffee in 2023, the tabloids declared that these were the “last lonely days of haggard Hackman”.

How he spent those last days is now the subject of considerable speculation after the bodies of the actor, 95, his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64, and one of their three dogs were found long-dead and decomposing at their home. The deaths are suspicious, say police, because they are so unexplained.

There was no note, no signs of trauma or a break-in and no gas leak to explain the length of time they had been dead before anybody noticed.

The mystery has been heightened by the fact that few know how Hackman actually lived his last days. One of those who might, however, is Daniel Lenihan, an archaeologist and former park ranger who wrote three historical novels with the star of The French Connection.

Hackman and David Lenihan wrote three novels together.

David Lenihan at his home this week. Picture: Andrea Blanco/The Times

Speaking to The Times on Friday, Lenihan said he had often travelled with Hackman to research scenes for their books.

Each book took them about a year to write, a process filled with mutual and friendly critique. Lenihan’s wife, Barbara, said: “They would poke at what each other wrote. Gene handwrote each book and then Betsy, she was wonderful, she transcribed them all so he could bring it to Dan every week and they could read it.”

Hollywood had faded into the background in the last decades of Hackman’s life, his friends said. He was extremely proud of the long-spanning acting career he had built and was fairly critical of how things seemed to be easier these days for younger generations of actors. “They were allowed to live their own life, they were pretty insular,” said Barbara, who had known Hackman for three decades.

Though Hackman was as frail as anyone might expect someone of his age to be, his daughter, Leslie, 58, one of three children he shared with his ex-wife, Faye Maltese, said he had been doing pilates and yoga several times a week. She said: “He was in good health.”

Arakawa was described as Hackman’s most loyal protector. Picture: Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images/The Times

Living in California meant she had not seen her father in a “few months”, the youngest of his children added, but she said they remained close. “I hadn’t talked to them for a couple months, but everything was normal and everything was good,” she told the Daily Mail.

Friends described Arakawa as Hackman’s most loyal and fierce protecter, particularly when he became more frail. One memorable story involved Hackman being stuck by a car while riding his bike in 2012. Arakawa dressed as a nurse to get in and out of hospital in an effort to avoid the waiting photographers.

Tom Allin, a long-time friend of Hackman’s in Santa Fe, said the couple had a hand signal that Hackman would use to escape conversations with fans. Arakawa was reported to have demanded Hackman improve his diet. Friends said he would occasionally eat a muffin or cake when her attention was elsewhere.

The couple’s home in Santa Fe. Picture: Roberto E. Rosales/AP

The Lenihans said they never talked much about Hollywood with Hackman. Picture: Andrea Blanco/The Times

Allin told The New York Times: “He said many times that he would have been dead without Betsy.”

Even the people who occasionally entered Hackman’s property had little idea about who they were working for. Roland Lowe Begay and Jesse Kesler, for example, the two maintenance workers who called police to his home this week, said they visited roughly every two weeks. However, their contact was via text message and they were almost always greeted by Arakawa.

Hackman’s daughter, Leslie, credited Arakawa with extending Hackman’s life. She said: “They had a wonderful marriage. And I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive. [Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health.”

The Times