Gene Hackman, ‘Superman’ and ‘the French Connection’ Star, Dead at 95

• Gene Hackman, 95, has died, a Santa Fe Sheriff confirmed on Thursday morning.
• Betsy Arakawa, his wife, was also found dead at their home, alongside the couple’s dog.
• The authorities said they do not suspect foul play.

Gene Hackman has died at 95.

The Santa Fe Sheriff, Adan Mendoza, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the Oscar-winning actor died on Wednesday at his New Mexico home alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog.

He said there was no indication of foul play.

Mendoza added: “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 neighborhood that there’s no immediate danger to anyone.”

The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Hackman is survived by his three children from his first marriage to Faye Maltese.

This is a breaking story and will be updated as more details emerge.

Hackman had his big break in ‘Bonnie and Clyde’

Hackman played a wide range of roles over his four-decade career, making him beloved by audiences and peers alike.

His breakout part was in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” where he played the older brother of the gangster Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) for which he received an Oscar nomination. He became a leading man as the hard-nosed detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in 1971’s “The French Connection,” which earned him an Oscar.

He spent the 1970s working on movies that would become classics, such as “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Conversation.” At the end of the decade, he played Lex Luthor in “Superman” (a role he reprised in “Superman II” and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace).

The 1980s saw Hackman’s star soar with movies like “Hoosiers” and “Mississippi Burning” (earning him another Oscar nomination). He started the 1990s with another Oscar win, this time for 1992’s Clint Eastwood-directed Western “Unforgiven.” As the decade went on he did some of his best work with “The Firm, “The Quick and the Dead,” “Crimson Tide,” “Get Story,” and “The Birdcage.”

As the 2000s came around it seemed Hackman wasn’t going to slow down in his 70s. He starred in wide-ranging projects: playing a football head coach in “The Replacements,” being part of an ensemble cast in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” and outwitting everyone in the clever “Heist.”

But Hackman actor had other ideas.

After starring in 2004’s “Welcome to Mooseport” he abruptly retired from acting.

Hackman, who wrote the 1999 novel “Wake of the Perdido Star,” focused more on his writing during this period. He wrote four more books, the last of which was the police thriller “Pursuit,” in 2013.

Hackman was a Marine before he started acting

Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California. He moved frequently as a kid and by the time he started high school his family had set roots in Iowa. At 16, he enlisted in the Marines and served four and a half years as a field radio operator in the late 1940s. He was discharged in 1951 and, after toying with a career in media by studying journalism and television production at the University of Illinois with the help of the GI Bill, Hackman moved back to California.

Hackman’s acting career began in the 1960s at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. There, he befriended fellow aspiring actor Dustin Hoffman, and the two hit it off as they tried to navigate their careers.

The pair moved to New York City to try to make it big and soon befriended another California actor with the same goal: Robert Duvall.

Alongside off-Broadway plays, Hackman found work with small TV parts. In 1964, he got a part in the movie, “Lilith,” starring Warren Beatty, leading to his big break with “Bonnie and Clyde.”

From then, Hackman would become and all-time great thanks to his passionate performances and ability to play gruff everyman characters, but with a charming quality whenever he flashed that smile or gave that crackling laugh.

Hackman has three children from his first marriage

In 1956, the actor married Faye Maltese, a bank clerk from New York. The couple had three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Hackman. They divorced in 1986 after 30 years of marriage.

In 2000, the actor told The Irish Independent that he wasn’t always present as a father. Hackman said: “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.”

Sometime after Hackman and Maltese split, he started dating Betsy Arakawa, a classical pianist who was 30 years his junior. They got married in 1991.

Hackman never returned to acting

Hackman’s status as a legend only grew after his retirement, as one of few icons able to walk away and stay away from the business.

In one of his final interviews, in 2011, GQ asked him if he’d ever do another more movie:

“I don’t know,” he said. “If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.”

Correction: February 27, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the circumstances of Gene Hackman’s death. The Santa Fe New Mexican cited Sheriff Adan Mendoza as saying Hackman, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog were found dead Wednesday afternoon, not that they died Thursday. Mendoza was said to have confirmed their deaths Thursday.