Gene Hackman, Hollywood’s Consummate Everyman, Dies at 95: Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star but became one nonetheless, playing seemingly ordinary characters with deceptive subtlety, intensity and often charm in some of the best-known films of the 1970s and ’80s, has died, authorities in New Mexico said Thursday. He was 95.
Mr. Hackman and his wife were found dead Wednesday afternoon in the Santa Fe, N.M., home where they lived, according to a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. The cause of death was undetermined and under investigation. Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies of Mr. Hackman, his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and a dog, according to the statement, which said foul play was not suspected.
Mr. Hackman was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two during a 40-year career in which he appeared in films seen and remembered by millions, including “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The French Connection,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Unforgiven,” “Superman,” “Hoosiers” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
The familiar characterization of Mr. Hackman was that he was Hollywood’s perfect everyman. But perhaps that was too simplistic. His characters – convict, sheriff, Klansman, steelworker, spy, minister, war hero, grieving widower, submarine commander, basketball coach, president – defied pigeonholing, as did his shaded portrayals of them.
Still, he did not deny his image as a regular Joe, nor did he mind it. He once joked that he looked like “your everyday coal miner. And he did seem to have been born middle-aged: slightly balding, with strong but unremarkable features, neither plain nor handsome, a tall man (6-foot-2) more likely to blend into a crowd than stand out in one.
It was Mr. Hackman’s gift to peel away the layers of characters who carried the weight of middle age.
