Actor Gene Hackman dies at 95
Usually when a 95-year-old dies, it’s obviously of natural causes. In Hackman’s case the cause is unknown and is being investigated, because his 63-year old wife and one of his dogs were also found dead. Foul play? Some sort of accident, like carbon monoxide? Suicide?
We don’t know.
Hackman was an actor of great talent and believability in the roles he took on. I first saw him in Bonnie and Clyde, the film that made him famous – I use the word “famous” because I’m not sure he was ever a “star,” certainly not in the usual leading-man sense.
This was the scene when Hackman was found:
“Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths,” the spokesperson said, though an exact cause has not been determined, and the sheriff’s office is investigating. …
Deputies did not see signs of forced entry into the Sante Fe, New Mexico, residence, and the front door was open upon their arrival, according to a search warrant. The Santa Fe City Fire Department, working with the New Mexico Gas Co., did not find evidence of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning.
Hackman and [his wife] Arakawa were found in separate rooms. The actor was found in a mudroom near his cane, appearing to have fallen, while his wife was found in an open bathroom near a space heater, with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the nearby countertop, according to the warrant. …
One of the couple’s German shepherds was also found dead less than 15 feet from Arakawa in a closet, while their other two dogs were found alive in the bathroom near Arakawa and outside.
I can think of several scenarios – including, for example, an accidental death for Hackman and suicide for the wife after sequestering the dogs. But I certainly don’t know, and testing will take many many weeks.
I don’t want the sad ending to eclipse the life of achievement Hackman had. So I’ll let him have the last word on that:
RIP.
Now being called suspicious.
‘Hoosiers’ is the greatest sports movie ever and his Norman Dale is the personification of every great old school coach ever.
I can also think of several scenarios for this also, which don’t involve foul play. It’s kind of odd, though – that they didn’t seem to have a regular housekeeper, or staff … it was apparently the yard maintenance guys who discovered the bodies.
He was a most excellent actor, though. I think the curious thing about his success was that he was an absolutely ordinary-looking guy. He was so believable in all those ‘every-day, ordinary man’ roles because of that absolute ordinariness. You could see him as a garbage man, a mechanic, a military enlisted guy, a small business owner. Anonymous, ordinary.
This doesn’t happen much in American show business – they select for the blindingly physically handsome, which is all very nice, but … not ordinary and convincing in the role of everyman. I think it happens more with British actors – they seem to select for talent, rather than blinding good looks.
Sgt. Mom:
Agreed.
I always thought Hackman would have been great as Col. Kurz in Apocalypse Now or as Lt. Col. Kilgore in the same movie. Just imagine him speaking the lines, in his own inimical Gene Hackman style (clipped, staccato, menacing) that were spoken by Brando and Duvall respectively.
E.g., “Do you know what horror is, captain?”; and, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Etc., etc. I can just hear his voice. . . .
He played a Kurz-like character in “March or Die,” excelling in his portrayal of a Foreign Legion colonel in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, one traumatized by his experiences on the Western Front, who was alternately insane, brilliant, charismatic, fearless, dangerous — and ultimately suicidal. Completely mad, and “still in the field commanding troops.”
Just like Kurz . . . or, for that matter, Kilgore.
Loved him in Young Frankenstein
My guess would be carbon monoxide poisoning with the gas dissipating due to the passage of time.
Neo, sadly you are probably right about securing the dog and then suicide. They appeared to be a very devoted couple. Don’t know why but this lonely death brought tears.
Having put a dog in a closet is odd.
And apparently, they had at least 1 other dog. No mention of its whereabouts.
Also, at least 2 weeks had passed!
All of that … just very sad.
He was so believable in all those ‘every-day, ordinary man’ roles because of that absolute ordinariness.
–Sgt. Mom
I have a soft spot for “Target” (1985) in which Hackman plays a retired spy and father to Matt Dillon. They have a spy adventure together. Dillon discovers his ordinary dad is also a formidable force if called upon.
I hated doing welfare checks, especially when you got there too late.
Gene Hackman was America’s greatest character actor.
You believed him in so many specific roles. We enjoyed seeing whatever new people he could portray and engage us with.
A consummate actor’s actor.
Does any younger actor compete with his multitudinous presence? Bradley Cooper, perhaps?
I guess I think of him playing primarily the bad guy roles due to the two movies I remember actually seeing him in. Both westerns. In “Unforgiven ” he was a brutal , crooked sheriff and in “The Quick and the Dead” he was a brutal outlaw that took over a western town.
I believe CO poisoning leaves evidence after death.
Santa Fe is at about 7200 feet, so it’s not as warm as its latitude would suggest. Just checked, 58 degrees. So they’d have had their furnace on. But there was mention of a space heater.
Some homes don’t distribute heat as desired, but anybody with money can have it fixed.
But the space heater was in the bathroom, correct?
Used to be, in the old days, you had a kerosene heater for the bathroom on shower nights. Today?
Maybe the furnace was, indeed, screwed up.
But no contact with the outside world for two weeks…. Odd. The family figures the pest control guy will be their contact? Or the housekeeper? Don’t need to call dad every so often?
No idea about foul play, but some odd situations.
I find the dead dog in bathroom closet extremely odd. There were 2 other dogs found alive, one in bathroom with wife, the other outside. On the 9-11 call you can hear the outside dog barking. If they were dead for 2 weeks, who was feeding the dog?