Remembering the life and legendary career of actor Gene Hackman

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: And famed actor Gene Hackman has died. Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, yesterday. Authorities are still investigating the cause, but a search warrant affidavit described their deaths as suspicious. Police say both had been dead for some time before their bodies were found, along with one of their dogs.

An open pill bottle and scattered pills were also found close to Arakawa’s body.

As John Yang reports, Hackman was one of the great actors of his generation.

Man: As best actor of the year, Gene Hackman receives his Oscar.

John Yang: Gene Hackman, the versatile everyman actor who won two Oscars, appeared in some 79 films in a career that’s spanned more than four decades. He was widely praised for his ability to bring a grounded and nuanced quality to flawed characters. It allowed him to play diverse roles across multiple genres.

Gene Hackman, Actor: She’s a small town girl.

John Yang: 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde” was his breakout performance, an outlaw who was fiercely loyal to his family. He got his first of five Oscar nominations for the film.

Later, he was the paranoid and isolated surveillance expert in “The Conversation,” the iconic villain Lex Luthor in Superman, and the no-nonsense FBI investigator in “Mississippi Burning.”

Gene Hackman: So few people ever get what they really want in life. It’s a make-believe world, and, as I say, it’s what I wanted to do as a child, and I fulfilled a lot of my dreams.

John Yang: Many of his best remembered roles were gritty tough guys. In 1971’s crime thriller “The French Connection,” he portrayed a New York City cop willing to get his man at any cost.

Gene Hackman: Popeye’s here. Hands on your heads! Get off the bar and get on the wall!

John Yang: And in 1992’s “Unforgiven,” he played a brutally violent sheriff opposite Clint Eastwood.

Gene Hackman: See what kind of books Mr. Beauchamp is packing here.

John Yang: Hackman was adept at comedy too, as the manipulative yet oddly charming father in “The Royal Tenenbaums”…

Gene Hackman: My God, I haven’t been in here for years.

John Yang: … and the staunchly traditional senator in “The Birdcage.”

As the years passed, Hackman faced the challenges of an aging actor.

Gene Hackman: The older you get, the tougher some of the dialogue becomes, you don’t retain all of it. So that part of it is becoming a little harder. I like it so much that I find it harder to do now because I’m maybe more intent than I have ever been.

John Yang: Hackman was also a published author. He wrote or co-wrote five books from historical fiction to Westerns.

Filmmakers and fellow actors showed their love for Hackman and his work in online tributes. Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola posted: “Gene Hackman, a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity.”

Gene Hackman was 95 years old.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m John Yang.