Gene Hackman Bio
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Gene Hackman BioThis Gene Hackman biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Gene Hackman bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.
Best Supporting Actor 1972 The French Connection Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture 1997 The Birdcage CFCA Award for Best Actor 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums NBR Award for Best Actor 1988 Mississippi Burning 1974 The Conversation 1972 The French Connection NYFCC Award for Best Actor 1971 The French Connection NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor 1992 Unforgiven Silver Bear-Best Actor - Berlin International Film Festival 1989 Mississippi Burning KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor 1992 Unforgiven KCFCC Award for Best Actor 1971 The French Connection LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor 1992 Unforgiven Bronze Wrangler for Theatrical Motion Picture 1976 Bite the Bullet (film) 1993 Unforgiven 1994 Geronimo: An American Legend NSFC Award for Best Supporting Actor 1992 Unforgiven 1967 Bonnie and Clyde NSFC Award for Best Actor 2002 The Royal Tenenbaums Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role in The French Connection, and continued to appear in major roles in Hollywood films, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Little Bill Dagget in Unforgiven, Lex Luthor in Superman (and its sequels), Joe Moore in Heist and more recently, Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in Behind Enemy Lines. Gene Hackman: BiographyGene Hackman - Early lifeHackman 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 3 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, 14 May 2008, with McGraw Milhaven on KTRS 550-AM in St. Louis, MO, 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. Gene Hackman - Career1960sAt 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 as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. For his performance he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.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. 1970sIn 1970, he 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 he won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as 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 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 Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1980). 1980sBy 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, and Bat*21. 1990sIn 1990, he underwent heart surgery, which kept him away from work for a while, although he still found time for a remake of The Narrow Margin. In 1992, he played the violent sheriff 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, he played John Herod in The Quick and the Dead, as well as Captain Frank Ramsey in the film Crimson Tide. He also starred in the 1998 film Enemy of the State, where his character was reminiscent of the one he played in The Conversation. 2000sHe starred in Heist as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into taking one final heist, all the while he has been "burned", his face having been seen on tape during a previous job. He also played in the ensemble cast films The Royal Tenenbaums and Runaway Jury. PresentTogether 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. Hackman does voice-overs on advertisements for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement. Gene Hackman - Personal lifeHackman'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. |
