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Gene Hackman
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Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman (born 30 January 1930) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, and continued to appear in Hollywood films playing major roles, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning, Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven, Lex Luthor in Superman (plus two of its sequels), Captain Frank Ramsey in Crimson Tide, Joe Moore in Heist and Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in Behind Enemy Lines.
man was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman.
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Encyclopedia
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman (born 30 January 1930) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, and continued to appear in Hollywood films playing major roles, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning, Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven, Lex Luthor in Superman (plus two of its sequels), Captain Frank Ramsey in Crimson Tide, Joe Moore in Heist and Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in Behind Enemy Lines.
Biography
Early life
Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He has a brother, Richard. Hackman's family moved from one place to another until finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his maternal grandmother, Beatrice, and where Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper. Hackman's parents divorced in 1943. His mother died in 1962, as a result of a fire she accidentally set while smoking. At sixteen, Hackman left home to join the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served three years as a field radio operator. Having finished his service, he moved to New York, working in several minor jobs before moving to study television production and journalism at the University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill.
In an in-studio interview on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, with McGraw Milhaven on KTRS 550-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, Gene clarified the following - although some biographies claim he studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he never did and has yet to even visit the campus.
Career
1960s
At 26 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed". Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman hopped on a bus bound for New York City. A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling actors and close friends while living in New York City in the 1960s. Hackman was working as a doorman when he ran into an instructor whom he had despised at the Pasadena Playhouse. Reinforcing "The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man had said "See Hackman, I told you you wouldn't amount to anything." (Some reports allege that it was one of his former drill instructors from the Marines who saw him there and told him this.)
Hackman began performing in several off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, he had an offer to co-star in the play Any Wednesday with actress Sandy Dennis. This opened the door to film work. His first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. Another supporting role, Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1969 he played a ski coach in Downhill Racer, and an astronaut in Marooned.
1970s
In 1970, he was nominated for the same award, this time for I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. The next year he won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as New York City police officer Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, marking his graduation to leading man status. He followed this with leading roles in the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974) which was nominated for several Oscars. That same year, Hackman appeared uncredited in one of his most famous comedic roles as the blind hermit in Young Frankenstein. He later appeared in the star-studded war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), and showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1980).
1980s
By the end of the 1980s, Hackman was a well respected actor and alternated between leading and supporting roles, earning another Best Actor nomination for Mississippi Burning, and appearing in such films as Reds, Under Fire, Hoosiers, Power, Uncommon Valor and Bat*21. His performance as a rural Indiana high school basketball coach in the period drama Hoosiers is considered by some to be particularly memorable.
1990s
In 1990, the actor underwent heart surgery, which kept him from work for a while, although he found time for Narrow Margin – a remake of The Narrow Margin (1952). In 1992, he played the sadistic sheriff "Little" Bill Daggett in the western Unforgiven directed by Clint Eastwood and written by David Webb Peoples which earned him a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor. The film itself won Best Picture.
In 1995, Hackman played other noteworthy villains, fast-draw champion John Herod in The Quick and the Dead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, as well as submarine Captain Frank Ramsey in the film Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington. In 1996, he took a comedic turn as ultra-conservative Senator Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. He also co-starred with Will Smith in the 1998 film Enemy of the State, where his character was reminiscent of the one from The Conversation.
2000s
Hackman starred in the David Mamet crime film Heist as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job. He also had leading roles in the ensemble cast films The Royal Tenenbaums and Runaway Jury.
In 2003, at the Golden Globe Awards, Hackman was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."
Present
Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman has written three novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), Justice for None (2004), and Escape from Andersonville (2008).
On July 7, 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which he announced that he had no future film projects lined up, and believes his acting career is over. In 2008, while promoting his third novel, Hackman confirmed that he has retired from acting. His final film to date was the box office bomb Welcome to Mooseport, a comedy with Ray Romano in which Hackman portrayed the president of the United States.
Hackman does voice-overs on advertisements for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement.
He also has a non-alcoholic beverage named after him that is gaining popularity in the Midwest. A "Gene Hackman" consists of Diet Coke mixed with Grenadine.
Personal life
Hackman's first wife was Faye Maltese. They had three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne, but the couple divorced in 1986 after 30 years of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Betsy is co-owner of an upscale retail home-furnishing store in Santa Fe, called Pandora's, Inc.
Filmography
External links
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