Legendary actor Gene Hackman and Wife Found Dead in NM

SANTA FE, N.M. — Acclaimed actor Gene Hack­man and his wife, Bet­sy Arakawa, were dis­cov­ered deceased in their New Mex­i­co res­i­dence on Wednes­day after­noon, ABC News con­firmed.

The cou­ple was found dur­ing a wel­fare check ini­ti­at­ed by a con­cerned neigh­bor, accord­ing to Denise Avi­la, Pub­lic Infor­ma­tion Offi­cer for the San­ta Fe Coun­ty Sher­if­f’s Office. A dog was also found dead at the scene.

Author­i­ties have stat­ed that foul play is not sus­pect­ed, and an inves­ti­ga­tion is ongo­ing.

Hack­man, a cel­e­brat­ed Acad­e­my Award-win­ning actor known for his roles in “The French Con­nec­tion,” “The Con­ver­sa­tion,” and “The Roy­al Tenen­baums,” among many oth­er icon­ic films, was 95 years old.

Renowned for his ver­sa­til­i­ty, Hack­man’s abil­i­ty to por­tray a wide array of char­ac­ters across gen­res made him a beloved fig­ure in Hol­ly­wood. From his com­i­cal yet men­ac­ing por­tray­al of Lex Luthor in 1978’s “Super­man” to his poignant role as a dis­graced bas­ket­ball coach in “Hoosiers” (1986), and his hilar­i­ous turn as a con­ser­v­a­tive sen­a­tor in “The Bird­cage” (1996), Hack­man’s career was marked by mem­o­rable per­for­mances.

He par­tic­u­lar­ly excelled in roles depict­ing flawed author­i­ty fig­ures, bring­ing depth and grav­i­tas to char­ac­ters like Detec­tive Jim­my “Pop­eye” Doyle in “The French Con­nec­tion” (1971), for which he won his first Oscar, and Sher­iff “Lit­tle Bill” Daggett in Clint East­wood’s “Unfor­giv­en” (1992), which earned him his sec­ond Acad­e­my Award.

Despite his fame, Hack­man was known for his humil­i­ty and reluc­tance to engage in Hol­ly­wood’s social scene. He once remarked, “Actors tend to be shy peo­ple,” in a 1988 inter­view with Film Com­ment. “There is per­haps a com­po­nent of hos­til­i­ty in that shy­ness, and to reach a point where you don’t deal with oth­ers in a hos­tile or angry way, you choose this medi­um for your­self.”

Hack­man retired from act­ing in his 70s, choos­ing to focus on oth­er pas­sions such as writ­ing nov­els and enjoy­ing life on his ranch in San­ta Fe, New Mex­i­co. He often expressed a pref­er­ence for the serene view of the Col­orado Rock­ies over revis­it­ing his own films on tele­vi­sion. “I’ll watch maybe five min­utes of it,” he told Time mag­a­zine, “and I’ll get this icky feel­ing, and I turn the chan­nel.”

Born on Jan­u­ary 30, 1931, in San Bernardi­no, Cal­i­for­nia, Hack­man grew up in Danville, Illi­nois, in a trou­bled house­hold. His father aban­doned the fam­i­ly when Hack­man was 13, leav­ing a last­ing impact on him. He found solace in movies, idol­iz­ing actors like Errol Fly­nn and James Cagney. At 16, he enlist­ed in the U.S. Marines by lying about his age.

Hack­man’s per­son­al life includ­ed two mar­riages. He mar­ried Fay Mal­tese in 1956, with whom he had three chil­dren before their divorce in the mid-1980s. In 1991, he mar­ried Bet­sy Arakawa, a clas­si­cal pianist of Japan­ese descent.

Hack­man’s lega­cy as an actor, char­ac­ter­ized by his ded­i­ca­tion to his craft and his abil­i­ty to bring authen­tic­i­ty to every role, remains unpar­al­leled in Hol­ly­wood his­to­ry.

“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.”

(Infor­ma­tion from the Asso­ci­at­ed Press)