Gene Hackman branded ‘true giant of the screen’ as Hollywood stars issue statements after actor’s death at 95
Tributes from some of Hollywood’s biggest names have flooded in after Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, were discovered on Wednesday afternoon, along with their pet dog.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the deaths to local media just after midnight.
The couple were found at their residence on Sunset Trail in a gated community northeast of the city.
Sheriff Mendoza told the Santa Fe New Mexican that there was no immediate indication of foul play in the deaths.
“I want to assure the community and neighbourhood that there’s no immediate danger to anyone,” he said.
The sheriff did not provide a cause of death or specify when the couple might have died.
“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant,” Mendoza added.
Fans, friends, colleagues, and famous faces have since rushed to social media to pay tribute to the actor, including Star Trek legend George Takei.
Takei penned on X, formerly Twitter: “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it.
Ah, Gene Hackman. The finest screen actor ever, I think. Not a single duff performance, in a long, long career. And the best delivery ever of a single word: when he says “Cigars!” In Young Frankenstein.
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) February 27, 2025
“He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”
Elsewhere, comedian Dara O’Briain added on the social media site: “Ah, Gene Hackman. The finest screen actor ever, I think.
“Not a single duff performance, in a long, long career. And the best delivery ever of a single word: when he says ‘Cigars!’ In Young Frankenstein.” (sic)
Hackman was one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, winning two Academy Awards during his illustrious career.
His first Oscar came for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 thriller The French Connection.
He later won a second Oscar for best-supporting actor playing Sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Western Unforgiven.
Throughout his career, Hackman received five Academy Award nominations and won four Golden Globe awards.
Hackman burst onto the scene in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, playing Buck Barrow alongside Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
He became known to younger audiences as the villainous Lex Luthor in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s.
His performance as surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is considered one of his finest.
Later career highlights included The Royal Tenenbaums, Mississippi Burning and The Firm.
Hackman retired from acting in 2004 after his final film role in the comedy Welcome to Mooseport.
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We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it. He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on… pic.twitter.com/OfmXVCG0jt
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 27, 2025
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,” Hackman once explained about his retirement. “The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”
Following his acting career, Hackman became an author of historical fiction, publishing several novels.
Hackman had lived in Santa Fe since the 1980s and married Arakawa, a classical pianist, in 1991.
This was Hackman’s second marriage, following his 30-year marriage to Faye Maltese which ended in divorce in 1986.
The couple were known to live a relatively private life in their gated community.
When asked in a 2011 interview how he would describe his life, Hackman simply said: “‘He tried.’ I think that’d be fairly accurate.”