Gene Hackman!

Gene Hackman Biography

Gene Hackman Early life

Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California to Eugene Ezra Hackman (a newspaper pressman) and Lynda Gray. Gene Hackman's parents divorced while Gene Hackman was a child, and Gene Hackman moved from one place to another until finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where Gene Hackman lived with his English-born grandmother, Beatrice Gray.

At 16 Gene Hackman left home to join the Marines, where Gene Hackman served 3 years as a field radio operator. Having finished his service, Gene Hackman 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.

Gene Hackman Career

Already over 30 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was in that school that Hackman 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 with his wife. Hoffman later followed them. 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 Gene Hackman ran into an instructor whom Gene Hackman had despised at the Beverly Hills 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 Gene Hackman there and told Gene Hackman this.)

Hackman began performing in several off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, Gene Hackman had the offer to play on Broadway, which opened the doors to the movies. Gene Hackman's first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. Another secondary role, Buck Barrow, in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned Gene Hackman an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1971, Gene Hackman was again nominated for the same award, this time for I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. The next year Gene Hackman won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Gene Hackman also appeared in the star studded war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), and showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978), and Superman II (1980).

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 Hoosiers, Loose Cannons and Bat*21. In 1990, Gene Hackman underwent heart surgery, which kept Gene Hackman away from work for a while. In 1992 Gene Hackman played sadistic sheriff Bill Daggett in Unforgiven, which earned Gene Hackman a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor.

Hackman also wrote a novel, which was published in 1999.

His distinctive voice can be heard in television commercials from time-to-time, notably for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Gene Hackman Personal life

Hackman's first wife was Fay Maltese. They had three children, but they divorced in 1986 after 30 years of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Beverly Hills and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Betsy is co-owner of an upscale retail home-furnishing store in Santa Fe, called Pandora's, Inc.

On July 7, 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which Gene Hackman announced that Gene Hackman had no future film projects lined up, and believes his acting career is over.

Gene Hackman Academy Award and Nominations

1967 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Bonnie and Clyde
1970 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - I Never Sang for My Father
1971 - Won - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The French Connection
1988 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Mississippi Burning
1992 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Unforgiven

Gene Hackman Filmography

Welcome to Mooseport (2004)
Runaway Jury (2003)
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Heist (2001)
Heartbreakers (2001)
The Mexican (2001)
The Replacements (2000)
Under Suspicion (2000)
Enemy of the State (1998)
Twilight (1998)
Absolute Power (1997)
The Chamber (1996)
Extreme Measures (1996)
The Birdcage (1996)
Get Shorty (1995)
Crimson Tide (1995)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
The Firm (1993)
Unforgiven (1992)
Company Business (1991) Class Action (1991)
Loose Cannons (1990)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Narrow Margin (1990)
The Package (1988)
Bat*21 (1988)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
No Way Out (1987)
Another Woman (1987)
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)
Hoosiers (1986)
Power (1986)
Target (1985)
Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
Eureka (1984)
Misunderstood (1984)
Uncommon Valor (1983)
Under Fire (1983)
Reds (1981)
Superman II (1981)
All Night Long (1981)
Superman (1978)
The Domino Principle (1978)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
March Or Die (1977)
French Connection II (1975)
Lucky Lady (1975)
Night Moves (1975)
The Conversation (1974)
Zandy's Bride (1974)
Bite the Bullet (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Scarecrow (1973)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Prime Cut (1972)
The Hunting Party (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
Downhill Racer (1969)
Marooned (1969)
The Gypsy Moths (1969)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Hawaii (1966)
Lilith (1964)
Mad Dog Coll (uncredited) (1961)