Oscar Winner Gene Hackman, His Wife Betsy Arakawa, And Their Dog Were Found Dead In Their Santa Fe Home
One of the toughest actors to ever strut across the screens of classic cinema, Gene Hackman, died early this week in his Sante Fe home at 95, along with his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and one of their three dogs.
First reported by The Associated Press, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department entered the house on Wednesday afternoon to perform a welfare check after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor, and found the two bodies in separate rooms. The search warrant states that the couple had been deceased for a day before they were found.
Hackman was in the mudroom, and Arakawa was found in the bathroom next to a space heater with prescription pills scattered across the countertop. “Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time,” the Sheriff’s office told KOB of Albuquerque. “However, [the] exact cause of death has not been determined.”
They would release an affidavit hours later stating that the nature of their deaths had merited a thorough search and investigation.
“Affiant believes that the circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” the affidavit reads (via Variety). “Because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened.”
“Deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property,” it continues. “Another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak”
It’s a story that grows grimmer as it continues to unfold, and there’s no telling what will come next, but regardless of the cause, the effect remains the same. Two people (and one dog) are gone, and another acting legend has fallen.
Eugene Allen Hackman punched his way into this world on January 30th, 1930 in San Bernadino, California. His family would move frequently during his childhood before his parents divorced, and his father (print press operator, Eugene Ezra Hackman) left the family. Claiming to have harbored a desire for acting since he was 10 years old, Hackman took a different route when he left home at 16 and lied about his age to join the Marines. He served four and a half years as a field radio operator while being stationed in China when the Chinese Communist Revolution conquered the mainland.
After being discharged in 1951, Hackman used his GI Bill to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse (alongside fellow future acting great, Dustin Hoffman). However, both men were awarded the lowest score the school had ever given. This led to them moving to New York City and trying their luck on the opposite coast with stage acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
There they met fellow California native (and fellow struggling actor), Robert Duvall, and the three of them would share apartments together throughout the 1960s in alternating two-person combinations. As far as ‘the ultimate bachelor pad in history’ goes, that situation is a top contender. Hackman worked odd jobs between theater roles, and finally landed his first screen gig in 1959 playing various characters in the anthology TV series, The United States Steel Hour. He continued to do plays on, and off-Broadway while nabbing small parts in shows like Tallahassee 7000, The Defenders, Route 66, and I, Spy.
Along with stage and small screen, he picked up small parts on the big screen before his breakthrough role as college professor, Gene Garrison, in the 1970 film I Never Sang for My Father. The performance earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 43rd Academy Awards, but he lost to John Mills who won for his work in the film Ryan’s Daughter (Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either.)
However, things would change the following year when Gene Hackman introduced the world to hardnosed detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the classic 1971 neo-noir thriller, The French Connection by director William Friedkin (The Exorcist). The film won five Oscars for Best Picture (beating A Clockwork Orange), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and Hackman took home the gold for Best Actor. It also features one of the greatest chase scenes in film history.
This catapulted Hackman into the stratosphere of Hollywood stardom. He followed up his Academy Award-winning role with a cameo as the blind hermit in Mel Brooks’ timeless 1974 comedy, Young Frankenstein. From there, he ruled the 1970s with an entire wealth of excellent performances in excellent films like The Poseidon Adventure, Scarecrow, Francis Ford Coppola’s often overlooked The Conversation, Night Moves, and even reprising his role as Popeye Doyle in 1975 with The French Connection II.
Then in 1978, he brought supervillain Lex Luthor to the big screen in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. A portrayal that brought more comedic elements to the otherwise sinister character, it is not without its charm, and it was made complete by the perfection Christopher Reeve brought to his portrayal of Superman. Hackman would return to the role of “Mr. Lu-Thor” in Superman II, and the fourth one that shall not be named.
Hackman also starred in other great films such as Mississippi Burning, The Quick and The Dead, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Firm, The Birdcage, and then he picked up his 2nd Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with his role as Sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s epic 1992 Western masterpiece, Unforgiven.
Most of the characters he played were no-nonsense hardasses who occasionally showed a flash of the kindness hidden beneath their gruff exterior. They would become cherished within the hearts of real-life heroes, anti-heroes, and even villains all around the world for over half a century. His final role was in the 2004 comedy, Welcome To Mooseport (co-starring Ray Romano), before he walked away from the spotlight, and into a well-deserved retirement.
As expected, the internet is overflowing with tribute from Gene’s friends, and his peers. Director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders) went to Instagram to bid his farewell.
“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. I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution,” the auteur wrote.
Actress, Viola Davis (City of Angels, Fences, The Help, The Suicide Squad), posted on her Instagram what most of us feel as well.
“Loved you in everything! The Conversation, The French Connection, The Poseidon Adventure, Unforgiven—tough yet vulnerable. You were one of the greats. God bless those who loved you. Rest well, sir.,” Davis wrote.
Josh Brolin (The Goonies, No Country For Old Men, Avengers: Endgame) also expressed his sorrow over the loss of the acting legend.
“I am crushed by the sudden deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa (and their dog). Crushed. He was always one of my favorites. Not many who beat to their own drums like he did. Rest in Peace,” the Thanos actor said.
Then there are the generations of moviegoers who grew up watching Gene Hackman. Most of them can’t decide which role of his was the absolute best, but the real answer is all of them. He was from an unforgettable era of film which has long since passed and will never be repeated. Nor will there ever be another of his kind.
So long, Popeye Doyle. 95 years is a magnificent run, and may there be plenty of skulls for you to crack on the other side. As a bonus tribute, watch the famous chase scene from The French Connection right here:
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