Gene Hackman 1930 - 2025

 

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman has passed away at 95. 

Born Eugene Allen Hackman in California in 1940, Hackman had an interest in acting as a ten-year old. After time in the U.S. Marine Corps, he began a study of journalism and television production at the University of Illinois before heading back to California. 

 

Pursuing an acting career, he had several TV and Broadway roles before appearing in the epic film HAWAII in 1966. He had his breakthrough in BONNIE AND CLYDE in 1967, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He would receive his second nomination in 1970 for I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER, and then would finally win for Best Actor for his role as “Popeye” Doyle in THE FRENCH CONNECTION in 1971. Over the next three years he would appear in ten films, including YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972), SCARECROW (1973), and Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION (1974). He would reprise his “Popeye” Doyle character in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II in 1975. In 1978 he would have one of his most iconic roles when he played Lex Luthor in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. He would reprise the role two more times. 

He continued a solid run through the 1980's, including SUPERMAN II (1980), HOOSIERS (1986), and MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988). 

In 1992 he would win his second Oscar for his role in Clint Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN. Other notable roles would include THE FIRM (1993), WYATT EARP (1994), THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995), CRIMSON TIDE (1995), GET SHORTY (1995), THE BIRDCAGE (1996), and ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998). He would reunite with Clint Eastwood in 1997, playing a corrupt U.S. President in ABSOLUTE POWER. 

 

In the 2000’s he would appear in UNDER SUSPICION (2000), THE REPLACEMENTS (2000), BEHIND ENEMY LINES (2001), and HEARTBREAKERS (2001). He would play against type when he appeared in Wes Anderson’s comedy THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001), which would earn him a Golden Globe win. In 2003 he would appear in the legal thriller RUNAWAY JURY alongside long-time friend Dustin Hoffman, and in 2004 he would have his final role in WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT. 

 

Overall his career would earn two Oscars, two BAFTA’s, and four Golden Globes. He would write novels late in life. 

 

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This Blogger’s first introduction to Gene Hackman was his role in SUPERMAN in 1978. He played the perfect, thinking-man’s bad guy; executing his takeover plan from within as opposed to attacking from the outside. In addition to being the definitive Lex Luthor, he established himself as capable of playing intelligent and gruff…while earning the top spot as one of the greatest SCREAMERS in movie history. 

His filmography has some of the most iconic films of all time: HOOSIERS is a rousing sports classic, UNFORGIVEN one of the best Westerns of all time, and his uncredited cameo in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is one of the funniest ever. Perhaps it is fitting to close with his award-winning turn in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, when his character, looking at an elaborate gravestone, quipped: “hell of a damn grave. Wish it were mine.”