Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog were found dead inside their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Wednesday afternoon, authorities confirmed Thursday.
“On February 26, 2025 at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, 95 and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital.
Officials said foul play is not suspected, but the cause of death has not been determined. The investigation remains ongoing.
Hackman, a two-time Academy Award winner for “The French Connection” in 1972 and “Unforgiven” in 1993, was one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. His death comes just days before this year’s Oscar ceremony.
“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Francis Ford Coppola, who directed Hackman in “The Conversation,” wrote on Instagram. “I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”
Born January 30, 1931, in San Bernardino, California, Hackman enlisted in the Marines at 16 by lying about his age. He served from 1947 to 1952 as a field radio operator and broadcast journalist, stationed for a time in China.
After pursuing various careers including journalism and painting, Hackman found his calling in acting. His breakout role came in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” followed by his first starring film role in 1970’s “I Never Sang for My Father.”
His filmography spans dozens of iconic performances from comedic roles in “Young Frankenstein” to playing villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” and the title character in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
“We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it,” actor George Takei wrote on X. “He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe.”
Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist raised in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They married in 1991 following Hackman’s divorce from his first wife, Fay Maltese, with whom he had three children.
The couple’s Southwestern-style ranch in a gated community sat on a hill with views of the Rocky Mountains. In his early years in Santa Fe, Hackman was active in the local community, serving on the board of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s.
After retiring from acting about 20 years ago – a retirement that, unusually for Hollywood, he maintained – Hackman co-wrote three novels. His literary career began with “Wake of the Perdido Star” in 1999, followed by two solo works concluding with “Pursuit” in 2013.
In recent years, Hackman had become increasingly private, though even mundane outings like pumping gas or getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy’s in 2023 made news. He told Empire magazine in 2020 that he and Arakawa enjoyed watching DVDs she rented, saying, “We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce.”