The winning actor at Oscar Gene Hackman, his wife was found dead at 95

The bodies of the American actor winning at Oscar Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were found dead in their residence Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hackman has won two Oscars for his work at “The French Connection” and “The Neporthiven” over 60 years of career.

“We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead on Wednesday after – mies at their Sunset Trail residence. This is an active investigation – however, at this time we do not believe that the bad game was a factor,” a Santa County statement from New Mexico County read.

His portrait about Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s thriller in 1971 “French connection” won the Oscar for best actor. In 1992, he won another supporting actor, this time for the portrait of Little Bill Daggett in the Western film of Clint Eastwood, “Uniergiven”.

Other Oscar nominations include its separation performance as Buck Barrow in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde”, as well as its agent in “Mississippi Burning” (1988) and “I Never Sang for My Father” (1970).

The office of the sheriff in Santa Fe County reported: “On February 26, 2025, at about 1:45 pm, the Santa Fe county deputies were sent to an address to Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park, where Gene Hackman, 95 years old and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64 years old, and a dog were found.”

Hackman, a highly appreciated actor, depicted Lex Luthor in Superman films from the 70s -80s, among 100 other roles. He also played in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums”, Francis Ford Coppola’s “conversation” and the popular movie “Runaway Jury.

In addition to his Oscars, he received an award for Guild Acts Screen, four golden globes and two baftas.

After his last large screen role by Monroe Cole in “Welcome to Mooseport” in 2004, Hollywood left to live a more seded life in New Mexico.

Hackman was born in 1930 in California and served for four and a half years in the army, after lying about his age 16 before being discharged in 1951, served in China, Hawaii and Japan.

After serving in the army, he lived and worked in New York, participated in the University of Illinois to study television production and journalism, then returned to California to follow his acting career. Hackman became friends with a young Dustin Hoffman when he joined the Playhouse Pasadena in California.

“I suppose I wanted to be an actor from the moment I was about 10 years old, maybe even younger than that,” he once said. “Memories of the early films I saw and actors that I admired as James Cagney, Errol Flynn, that type of type of romantic action.

“When I saw those actors, I felt I could do this. But I went to New York for about eight years before I had a job. I sold women’s shoes, polished leather furniture, I drove a truck.

“I think if you have it in yourself and you want it bad enough, you can do it.”

He added that he “wanted to act”, but “he was always convinced that the actors must be beautiful.”

“This came from the days when Errol Flynn was my idol. I got out of a theater and I was amazed when I looked in a mirror because I didn’t look like Flynn. I felt like him.”

In 1963, he returned to New York and began to make small TV songs and off-Broadway shows. He also began to settle in the 1970s, playing the role of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, a New York detective in “French Connection”.

Soon it started to appear frequently on the big screen in movies such as “The Poseidon Adventure”, a 1972 disaster.

After 30 years of marriage and the growth of three children together, Hackman and his first wife, Faye Maltese, separated in 1986.

Except for a rare public appearance at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, where he received the Cecil B. Demille award, he and the second wife, Betsy, a classic pianist, have been highlighted in recent years.

In 2008, he told Reuters: “I did not hold a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I will not act anymore. I was told not to say that in recent years, if a wonderful part appears, but I really do not want to.”

In addition, he explained that he changes his concentration from the big screen to his love of writing novels.

“I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame, agents and lawyers and press,” he once said.

“It costs me a lot emotionally to look at the screen. I think of myself and I feel like I’m pretty young, then I look at this old man with the Baggy chins and with tired eyes and with the retreat line and all this.”