Gene Hackman (1930-2025)

[Orlac]

Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa found dead in their home in Santa Fe

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 05671.html

[bdsweeney]

Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa found dead in their home in Santa Fe

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 05671.html

This is gutting. Several of his performances mean the world to me, first among many being that of Harry Caul in The Conversation. While in reality I likely have 100s of performances I can point to as my favourite, it’s that role which I state as holding that position.

His work in Night Moves is close behind.

[Mr. Deltoid]

Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa found dead in their home in Santa Fe

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 05671.html

Shocking. Whatever the circumstances surrounding his demise (and the authorities are claiming no foul play), he was one of the best in an era that boasted no shortage of superlative talent. The French Connection may be his epitaph, but The Conversation and Roeg's Eureka are unthinkable without his presence.

[Beloved Aunt]

I'm guessing suicide. Hackman was never less than an eloquent presence on the screen. RIP

[Beloved Aunt]

Wait, does suicide count as foul play? :-k

[flyonthewall2983]

In Royal Tenenbaums when he tells Anjelica Houston he is dying is about as close to seeing my parents on screen that I have ever seen. I won’t elaborate on that too much directly except to say that performance captures something about difficult men that he was effortless at doing while never turning you away or feeling too much like he’s eating the scenery. Even as Lex Luthor. Even in movies which didn’t rise up to his talent he was able to make some memorable moments. The first act of Uncommon Valor has many examples of this, none more than the scene where he’s in bed and imagines his son, now thought to be possibly left behind or dead in Vietnam, walking into his bedroom.

That, and another movie Two of a Kind were released on the year I was born. In the latter film, he plays the uncredited voice of God. Noticed it as I was going through his Letterboxd page. I am about to move into my first home, and his death (let alone that of Teri Garr, the one actress who reminded me most of my mother, on my birthday no less) feels like an odd coincidence of life so specific it almost feels embarrassing to talk about. It makes his performance in Unforgiven, and that Little Bill left behind an unfinished house, all the more prescient in my mind. Let alone the characters unchecked power and hubris, but it is maybe the most striking and definitive work of his as much as the examples I have already cited.

[tenia]

I'm guessing suicide. Hackman was never less than an eloquent presence on the screen. RIP

I obviously have no insider info about this, but the currently available detail that even their dog died makes me rather think of a carbon monoxyde intoxication.

[domino harvey]

One of our greatest actors, there really has never been another like him. I was just reading about him a few days ago, how early on he consistently finished last in acting classes and used constant rejection to propel himself to a career as a “Fuck you” to those who opposed him. Quite interesting stuff that explained his self-admitted asshole behavior on sets

[JSC]

I'll probably watch I Never Sang for my Father tonight. A title that really should come to blu-ray
sooner rather than later. Not a perfect film (some of the stylistic choices don't always work), but an
acting powerhouse with Hackman giving one of his best performances (in my opinion).

[beamish14]

His scene where he detoxes from heroin in The French Connection II is some all-time great cinema.

Astonishingly gifted in comedic roles such as in The Birdcage, too (his pause and “He’s Jewish?!” line had the audience I saw it with scream in laughter)

[domino harvey]

I'll probably watch I Never Sang for my Father tonight. A title that really should come to blu-ray
sooner rather than later. Not a perfect film (some of the stylistic choices don't always work), but an
acting powerhouse with Hackman giving one of his best performances (in my opinion).

Imprint actually recently released it on Blu in their Gene Hackman boxset

[JSC]

Ah, yes. I forgot about that. I was hoping it would get a separate release at some point.

Also, let's not forget...

[Maltic]

I always thought Hackman in Young Frankenstein looked like Francis Ford (Feeney).

[Toland's Mitchell]

The Oscars will quickly need to amend their In Memoriam segment. Gene was a gifted actor, one of the finest of his era.

[willoneill]

I feel like Hackman is enough of a giant that he warrants his own tribute apart from the In Memoriam section. But I'm not also producing the Oscars (...boy, if I was, let me tell you....)

[hearthesilence]

I'm guessing suicide. Hackman was never less than an eloquent presence on the screen. RIP

I obviously have no insider info about this, but the currently available detail that even their dog died makes me rather think of a carbon monoxyde intoxication.

That's what I was thinking. It would be a tragedy to have everything end that way so prematurely - even at his advanced age, he seemed to be doing well, and his wife possibly had many years ahead of her, maybe even their dog. But he still had an extremely long and fruitful life, got to live his golden years on his terms in privacy, and above all he got to experience them - given his recurring heart problems going back to the '70s, I was impressed he made it so long in relatively good shape.

Anyway, it says a lot that he's never been forgotten. He's popped up so many times in conversation, with Criterion's upcoming reissues of The French Connection and Night Moves (two of his very best films and lead performances) and the Jerry Schatzerg retrospective that just wrapped at MoMA. He starred in two films for Schatzberg, most notably Scarecrow which he said was his favorite film to work on even though Schatzberg has been open about tensions that arose from his and Pacino's conflicting acting styles - again it's possible he's just prickly on EVERY movie, but regardless it's one of his best and maybe Schatzberg's best. (Also pretty cool that Letterman thought to ask about Scarecrow, mentioning that it was a favorite.)

When I was revisiting Miami Blues, I was surprised to find out he was originally cast as Hoke Moseley and apparently stepped aside amicably when Armitage and Demme decided to cast Alec Baldwin as Junior and have Fred Ward play Moseley. Also amazing that he was originally planning to direct and star in The Silence of the Lambs - it's not like his career in short on accomplishments, but it's pretty amazing what else he could've done.

Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, Young Frankenstein, Scarecrow, Night Moves, Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums (my favorite of his comedic performances)....I pretty much lost track of how many of his films are in my library. The Conversation above all is still my favorite. I've seen it so many times and even projected from at least two different 35mm prints.

Speaking of the Oscars, imagine being a struggling actor in NYC, starting older than nearly everyone trying to break in, and you're living with two other struggling actors including one who won't pay the rent and another who's ostensibly crashing at your place, and having the whole situation irritate the hell out of you to no end. Then decades later all three of you have won Best Actor Oscars and now you're competing directly with your former roommate for what would be the second trophy for either of you. Insane.

[knives]

I'm guessing suicide. Hackman was never less than an eloquent presence on the screen. RIP

I obviously have no insider info about this, but the currently available detail that even their dog died makes me rather think of a carbon monoxyde intoxication.

This definitely makes the most sense.

Just watched Postcard from the Edge and his cameo as a tough as brass director is the real life blood of that movie. Such a consistently good actor able to pitch things just right for any part.

[colinr0380]

His railing against a cruel God at the end of The Poseidon Adventure does a lot to elevate that film from being 'just' a disaster movie. As much as people are talking about The French Connection, French Connection II in which his character is forcibly addicted to drugs and has to go through cold turkey deserves a mention as well. A great late role was against Paul Newman in Twilight (spoiler).

A couple of great action films: the proto-Taken film Target and the remake of Narrow Margin, where he has to carry a lot of the action scenes. It was also good to see him riff on his Conversation character in the decades later Enemy of the State (more successfully there than when re-doing the basic premise of the successful BAT*21 in Behind Enemy Lines). On the other side of things, he's a great as a well-meaning doctor, to a villainous extent, in Extreme Measures.

[hearthesilence]

Reluctant to post this (details are a little gruesome), but it does not appear to be suicide.

[jazzo]

His broken performances in The Conversation and Night Moves, to me, rank with some of the most devastating every committed to celluloid.

His scenes with Richard Harris and Saul Rubinek in Unforgiven are all-time greats in what is already a perfect movie.

And I will never forget his Harry Zimm in Get Shorty, although, according to Barry Sonnenfeld, he had to sit hard on Hackman's attempts at comedy in order to mine the humour out of the role. Whatever he did, I fucking love it so much. If you have the disc, there's a deleted scene, cut for pacing, I'm assuming, where Harry Zimm passes along professional advice to a hot music video director shooting his first picture (played to douchebaggery perfection by Ben Stiller) that is easily as funny as anything in the actual picture.

[swo17]

Reluctant to post this (details are a little gruesome), but it does not appear to be suicide.

Nor carbon monoxide poisoning

[lacritfan]

Damn, his wife was only 64...

[cdnchris]

He was one of the first actors I "recognized" as a kid (probably because he was Lex Luthor) and have been revisiting a lot of his movies lately after getting the 4K for The Conversation. Even bought the Blu-ray for Enemy of the State and just streamed Runaway Jury. Literally just pulled out Tenenbaums last night to watch tonight. There's always something comforting about him in a movie even when the movie was anything but.

(Still haven't seen Welcome to Mooseport and probably never will.)

This one hit hard when I heard.

[beamish14]

I'm guessing suicide. Hackman was never less than an eloquent presence on the screen. RIP

I obviously have no insider info about this, but the currently available detail that even their dog died makes me rather think of a carbon monoxyde intoxication.

That's what I was thinking. It would be a tragedy to have everything end that way so prematurely - even at his advanced age, he seemed to be doing well, and his wife possibly had many years ahead of her, maybe even their dog. But he still had an extremely long and fruitful life, got to live his golden years on his terms in privacy, and above all he got to experience them - given his recurring heart problems going back to the '70s, I was impressed he made it so long in relatively good shape.

Anyway, it says a lot that he's never been forgotten. He's popped up so many times in conversation, with Criterion's upcoming reissues of The French Connection and Night Moves (two of his very best films and lead performances) and the Jerry Schatzerg retrospective that just wrapped at MoMA. He starred in two films for Schatzberg, most notably Scarecrow which he said was his favorite film to work on even though Schatzberg has been open about tensions that arose from his and Pacino's conflicting acting styles - again it's possible he's just prickly on EVERY movie, but regardless it's one of his best and maybe Schatzberg's best. (Also pretty cool that Letterman thought to ask about Scarecrow, mentioning that it was a favorite.)

When I was revisiting Miami Blues, I was surprised to find out he was originally cast as Hoke Moseley and apparently stepped aside amicably when Armitage and Demme decided to cast Alec Baldwin as Junior and have Fred Ward play Moseley. Also amazing that he was originally planning to direct and star in The Silence of the Lambs - it's not like his career in short on accomplishments, but it's pretty amazing what else he could've done.

Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, Young Frankenstein, Scarecrow, Night Moves, Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums (my favorite of his comedic performances)....I pretty much lost track of how many of his films are in my library. The Conversation above all is still my favorite. I've seen it so many times and even projected from at least two different 35mm prints.

Speaking of the Oscars, imagine being a struggling actor in NYC, starting older than nearly everyone trying to break in, and you're living with two other struggling actors including one who won't pay the rent and another who's ostensibly crashing at your place, and having the whole situation irritate the hell out of you to no end. Then decades later all three of you have won Best Actor Oscars and now you're competing directly with your former roommate for what would be the second trophy for either of you. Insane.

Silence of the Lambs screenwriter Ted Tally, in one of Patrick McGilligan’s compendiums of screenwriter interviews, said that he was called in after Hackman tried to adapt the novel himself and found that he was translating one page of the book into one page of script at a time

[thirtyframesasecond]

Reluctant to post this (details are a little gruesome), but it does not appear to be suicide.

Nor carbon monoxide poisoning

And likely to have been dead for some time. Medication was found around his wife's body though.