Gene Hackman

Biography

Eugene Allen Hackman was born on January 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California, to Anna Lyda Elizabeth (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He also had a brother named Richard. Anna was an actress, painter, pianist, and waitress, from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Eugene, Sr. operated the printing press for the local newspaper, the Commercial-News. The family moved frequently before eventually settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of Anna's English-born mother, Beatrice. Hackman later stated that he decided to become an actor at the age of 10. When Hackman was 13 years old, Eugene Sr. divorced Anna, and left the family. Hackman spent his sophomore year at Storm Lake High School in Storm Lake, Iowa. He left home at the age of 16, lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, and served four and a half years as a field radio operator. Hackman was stationed in China (Qingdao and later in Shanghai) as part of Operation Beleaguer. He later stated that part of his role there was destroying Japanese military equipment so that Communist revolutionaries did not capture it. After the Communists conquered the mainland in 1949, he was reassigned to Hawaii and Japan. After his discharge in 1951, Hackman moved to New York City, where he worked at various jobs. He later began studying journalism and television production at the University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill, but left before graduating, and moved back to California. In 1962, Anna died in a fire she had accidentally started while smoking. Hackman made his credited film debut in the drama Lilith (1964). He later won two Academy Awards; his first for Best Actor for his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in William Friedkin's action thriller The French Connection, and his second for Best Supporting Actor for playing a cruel sheriff in Clint Eastwood's western Unforgiven. He was Oscar-nominated for playing Buck Barrow in the crime drama Bonnie and Clyde, and an FBI agent in the historical drama Mississippi Burning. Hackman gained further fame for his portrayal of Lex Luthor in three of the Superman films. His other notable roles include The Conversation, Night Moves, Hoosiers, No Way Out, Crimson Tide, The Quick and the Dead, Get Shorty, Enemy of the State, and The Royal Tenenbaums. He retired from acting in 2004, writing novels and occasionally narrating television documentaries, up until 2017. Hackman's health declined in his final years. He was found dead, along with his wife, in his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His cause of death was deemed a combination of Alzheimer's disease, severe heart disease, and kidney disease.