Actor Gene Hackman, his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog died on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, in their Santa Fe home. County Sheriff Adan Mendoza stated that there’s no indication of foul play, but he did not provide a cause of death and is investigating the situation. Hackman and Arakawa were married for over 30 years. Hackman was 95 years old, and Arakawa was 64.

Hackman was known for playing intelligent, authoritative characters in a career that spanned over 40 years. Among his many notable roles, he was known for playing Detective Popeye Doyle in The French Connection and the Man of Steel’s nemesis Lex Luthor in Superman.

He was born on January 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California. Hackman dropped out of high school and joined the Marines where he worked as a radio operator while also getting his diploma. He worked in a variety of jobs, including journalism and TV production, and studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse Theatre where he became friends with fellow actor Dustin Hoffman.

Hackman moved to New York and starred in an Off-Broadway production of Chaparral, then landed his first film role in Mad Dog Coll. He made his Broadway debut in 1963 in Children From Their Games, followed by A Rainy Day in Newark, and Any Wednesday.

Then he had his breakout role in Bonnie and Clyde as Clyde’s brother Buck Burrow, earning his first Academy Award nomination. Hackman’s second Oscar nod came in ’71 for I Never Sang for My Father, playing a professor who was trying to heal an estranged relationship with his father. A year later, he cemented himself as a star in The French Connection, picking up his first Oscar win.

Hackman followed that by starring in The Poseidon Adventure, then starred opposite Al Pacino in Scarecrow, and was in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. He was in The French Connection II, Bite the Bullet, and Night Moves.

In ’78, he played opposite Christopher Reeve as the scheming, greedy Lex Luthor in Superman. He reprised the role in Superman II and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Also in the ‘80s, Hackman was in Reds with Warren Beatty, starred in the inspiring sports film Hoosiers, and earned another Oscar nomination for the historical dramatic thriller Mississippi Burning.

Hackman’s second Academy Award win was for playing the cruel sheriff in the Western Unforgiven. Then he played a morally ambiguous lawyer in The Firm, was a submarine captain in Crimson Tide, and starred opposite Sharon Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Quick and the Dead.

He followed those dramatic roles with work in several comedies. This included playing a conservative senator in The Birdcage with Robin Williams, he played a football coach in The Replacements, was in Wes Anderson’s offbeat comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, and was in Heartbreakers with Sigourney Weaver as a wealthy man targeted by con artists. Returning to drama, he was in Runaway Jury as a manipulative jury consultant, then his last film project was the comedy Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.

Hackman was also a novelist who wrote Payback at Morning Peak and Pursuit, and co-wrote Wake of the Perdido Star, Justice for None, Vermillion, and Escape from Andersonville with Daniel Lenihan.