Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead in Santa Fe Home
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Gene Hackman, a two-time Oscar winner for “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven,” and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their Santa Fe, N.M. home.
The office of Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed their deaths to Variety after midnight Thursday. There is no immediate indication of foul play, per authorities, though the Sheriff’s office did not immediately provide a cause of death. Hackman was 95. Arakawa was 63.
On Wednesday, Sheriff’s deputies visited the home of Hackman and Arakawa, who married in 1991. The couple who found dead, alongside their dog, in their residence in a gated community.
“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant,” the sheriff told the Santa Fe New Mexican. The statement came before authorities had positively identified the pair, per the publication. “I want to assure the community and neighborhood that there’s no immediate danger to anyone.”
Considered one of the great screen performers of the latter part of the 20th century, the tall, likable Hackman had an amiable grace, easy humor and a surprisingly wide range that made him equally believable in roles as lower-class losers and high-powered executives. Indeed, he played the president of the United States, albeit a homicidal one, in 1997’s “Absolute Power” and a former president in his final feature, “Welcome to Mooseport.”
Like the great character movie stars of an earlier era, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Hackman transcended any limitations by the sheer force of his presence, becoming as identifiable and admired as some of his higher-paid contemporaries such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman.
After years in stage and television, Hackman broke out with his role as Clyde Barrow’s explosive older brother in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde,” which brought him his first Oscar nomination in supporting actor. Pauline Kael dubbed his performance the best in the film. He soon after did an about-face as Melvyn Douglas’ timid son in “I Never Sang for My Father” and drew a second Oscar nom.
But his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, the rogue cop in the Oscar best picture winner “The French Connection,” defined him and cast his trajectory as one of the American cinema’s great actors. His performance in the 1971 thriller nabbed him an Academy Award for best actor. The following years saw Hackman end up in enough poorly regarded films to doom most actors (from “March or Die” to “Banning” and “Bat 21”); he also reportedly turned down assignments in “Ordinary People,” “Apocalypse Now” (the Robert Duvall role), “Network” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
