gene hackman movies

Sheriff: Gene Hackman, wife found dead in Santa Fe home; no foul play suspected

Actor Gene Hackman arrives with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, for the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 19, 2003, where he would receive the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B deMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

Legendary actor, two-time Oscar winner and author Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home in the Santa Fe Summit community northeast of the city.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed just after midnight Thursday the couple had died, along with their dog.

Mendoza said in an interview Wednesday evening there was no immediate indication of foul play. He did not provide a cause of death or say when the couple might have died.

Gene Hackman smiles as he holds an Oscar he had just received for best actor for his role in 1971’s The French Connection at the 44th Annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Music Center in Los Angeles on April 10, 1972.

Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy, arrive at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on March 29, 1993, before the 65th Annual Academy Awards. Hackman won the best supporting actor award that year for his role in Unforgiven.

Gene Hackman, right, and his longtime friend Daniel Lenihan discuss a book they co-authored, Wake of the Perdido Star, Nov. 19, 1999, in Cloud Cliff Cafe in Santa Fe. It was there that they dreamed up their adventure novel about 19th-century sailors.

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In pictures: Gene Hackman’s iconic on-screen roles

Actor Gene Hackman was found dead in his home on Wednesday, February 26, alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. He was 95.

Their cause of death has not been confirmed but it is not believed to be foul play, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told CNN Thursday morning.

Throughout his career, which spanned more than 40 years, he elevated character roles to leading-man levels, such as in “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers,” “Unforgiven,” and “The Firm.” His best roles were often of conflicted authority figures or surprisingly clever white-collar villains.

Hackman was 36 before he broke through in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” Before that, he’d served in the Marines and worked odd jobs throughout California and New York.

He retired at 74. He had lived in Santa Fe in recent decades with Arakawa, a former classical pianist, and largely stayed out of the public eye.

Gene Hackman, prolific actor and ‘Hoosiers’ star, dies at 95

Gene Hackman, the prolific Oscar-winning actor whose studied portraits ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving villains and included what is considered one of the greatest sports movies of all time in “Hoosiers,” has died at the age of 95.

Hackman was found dead with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog when deputies performed a welfare check at their New Mexico home around 1:45 p.m. Thursday, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Avila said.

Foul play was not suspected, but authorities did not release circumstances of their deaths and said an investigation was ongoing.

Loosely based on an Indiana high school basketball team in the 1950s, the 1986 film “Hoosiers” features Hackman starring as coach Norman Dale, a man who was given a second chance at coaching after his first one ended for striking one of his players years earlier. Hackman leads the small-school Hickory Huskers on an unlikely run through the Indiana high school basketball tournament, winning the title over big-city South Bend Central on a buzzer beater by Jimmy Chitwood.

Hackman famously thought the movie would end his career, but the film instead was widely lauded. It was voted as the best sports movie of all time by The Associated Press in 2020 and is the No. 4 sports film according to the American Film Institute.

Hackman was a frequent and versatile presence on screen from the 1960s until his retirement. His dozens of films included Academy Award favorites “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven,” a breakout performance in “Bonnie and Clyde,” a classic bit of farce in “Young Frankenstein,” a turn as the comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman,” and the title character in Wes Anderson’s 2001 “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

He was a five-time Oscar nominee, and his wins for “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven” came 21 years apart. His death comes just four days before this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Although self-effacing and unfashionable, Hackman held special status within Hollywood. He embodied the ethos of doing his job, doing it well and letting others worry about his image. Beyond the obligatory appearances at awards ceremonies, he was rarely seen on the social circuit and made no secret of his disdain for the business side of show business.

He was an early retiree — essentially done, by choice, with movies by his mid-70s — and a late bloomer. Hackman was 35 when cast for “Bonnie and Clyde” and past 40 when he won his first Oscar.

When not on film locations, Hackman enjoyed painting, stunt flying, stock car racing and deep sea diving. In his later years, he wrote novels and lived on his ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on a hilltop looking out on the Colorado Rockies, a view he preferred to his films that popped up on television.

“I’ll watch maybe five minutes of it,” he once told Time magazine, “and I’ll get this icky feeling, and I turn the channel.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jets HC Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey address the team’s decision to move on from Aaron Rodgers in 2025. (0:31)

The offseason is in full swing, with the franchise tag window open until March 4, and the legal tampering period for free agency starting March 10. The first official event of the offseason, however, is the 2025 NFL scouting combine.

Front office executives, coaches and scouts are in Indianapolis to get a closer look at 2025 NFL draft prospects at the combine. On Tuesday, coaches and general managers spoke to reporters, looking ahead to free agency, the draft and to next season. On-field workouts for prospects begin Thursday and go through Sunday.

We tracked all the news from the combine on Tuesday from coaches and GMs. Here’s what we heard:

Emma Hayes reacts to her first loss as coach of the USWNT, saying the team will build upon its defeat to Japan in the SheBelieves Cup. (1:12)

Japan beat the United States 2-1 at the SheBelieves Cup in San Diego on Wednesday to end the Americans’ streak of five straight trophies at the annual tournament and hand manager Emma Hayes her first defeat since taking charge of the USWNT.

The result was a measure of revenge for first-time winner Japan, which lost 1-0 to the U.S. in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Olympics as Hayes led the team to the gold medal in Paris.

Japan got off to a dream start in the second minute when U.S. keeper Jane Campbell collided with one of her defenders in front of goal and Yuka Momiki gathered the ball and fired it into an open net for the early lead.

The U.S. regrouped under heavy pressure from Japan and quickly tied the game when Ally Sentnor — who scored her first goal for the Americans on Thursday against Colombia — picked up a through ball from Catarina Macario and calmly curled a shot past Ayaka Yamashita to make it 1-1 just before the 15-minute mark.

Japan started the second half just like it did the first: with an early goal. Campbell kept out a great free kick by Japan, but her save fell right to the feet of Toko Koga, who slotted home the rebound to give her team a second lead of the game.

Despite numerous second-half changes, the USWNT couldn’t find a way back into the game as Japan saw out a convincing win to make it 3-for-3 after victories over Australia and Colombia in its first two games of the tournament.

The USWNT finished the tournament with two wins and one loss.

Prior to the loss to Japan, Hayes had won 15 and drawn two of the first 17 matches she coached since her tenure as U.S. manager started in June 2024.

The U.S. team was playing in the tournament without the trio of Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia (Smith) Wilson. Rodman is rehabbing a back injury, Smith was not yet in game form and Swanson was out for personal commitments.

Japan was coming off a 4-1 victory over Colombia on Sunday. Mina Tanaka, who plays for the Utah Royals in the National Women’s Soccer League, led all players with four goals and three assists.