Police suspect that actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy could have been dead for some time before their bodies were found. Here what is known until now.
Gene Hackman, a Hollywood giant and twice an Oscar winner, was found dead along with his wife and his dog at his home in New Mexico on Wednesday, although researchers believe they may have been dead for some time and the cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Hackman, 95, was a prolific actor who played a variety of heroes and villains in films such as “The French Connection”, “Hoosiers” and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Questions arise around deaths as details of the scene are revealed. This is what is known.
Cause of death to be determined
Santa Fe researchers, New Mexico, have not said if they have determined the cause of death.
According to an affidavit of the registration order, a maintenance worker called the police after finding the bodies on Wednesday. He informed that the main door of the house was open when he arrived to do his routine work.
In a 911 call, the maintenance worker said he could see Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, 63, lying on the floor through a window, but could not enter.
Hackman's body was discovered at the entrance of the house and Arakawa was found dead next to a heater in a bathroom. In an countertop near Arakawa, there were scattered pills next to an open recipe, according to the registration order.
Police said they found the body of a German shepherd in the bathroom closet. Two other dogs were found alive in the property.
No crime was suspected, authorities said, although a registration order showed that the investigators thought that the deaths were “in nature suspicious enough to require an exhaustive search and investigation.”
New Mexico Gas Company tested the gas lines in the house but found no sign of problems at that time, according to the order.
An investigator said that people do not show signs of poisoning if they are exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide, but there were also no escape signs.
The results of the autopsies made to both bodies were not available on Thursday, authorities said.
Why was Hackman famous?
Hackman appeared in a wide range of film roles that date back to 1961, when he debuted in “Mad dog coll.” During the next four decades, his papers, including that of Villano Lex Luthor in the “Superman” films and the iconic coach in “Hoosiers”, helped to place Hackman on a Hollywood pedestal.
Hackman's performance as an obsessed and amoral police in the 1971 film “The French Connection” earned an Oscar for best actor in a main role and was considered one of his defining roles. Hackman won another Oscar for playing a sadistic sheriff in “Unforgiven” from 1992.
Hackman shunned the celebrity pomp and was considered an actor actor who focused on work and not on his image, dodging appearances in social circuits beyond some awards deliveries.
When he was a child, the films offered Hackman an escape from a tumultuous home life with an abusive father who abandoned the family when Hackman was 13 years old.
How is Hollywood reacting?
The sympathy and admiration for Hackman came from Hollywood legends, including director Francis Ford Coppola, actor and director Clint Eastwood and actor Bill Murray.
Murray worked with Hackman in the 2001 film by director Wes Anderson “The Royal Tennenbaums.” Hackman made difficult moments to young directors like Anderson, but contributed skill to the set, Murray said.
“Once I saw him do as 25 shots in which he did it perfectly with an actor who continued to ruin all the time,” Murray told The Associated Press. “He was great. He was a great actor. ”
Actor Cary Elwes called Hackman a “force of nature.”
“Growing up with his films was an absolute emotion for me,” Elwes said on Instagram. “Observing its remarkable ease and humanity on each role was something worth contemplating.”
Everything you always wanted to learn about acting can be found in any of Hackman's performances, actor Steve Toussaint published on Instagram.
″ 'The French connection'. 'Crimson Tide', 'The conversation'. God! I could continue, ”Toussaint wrote.
Who was his wife?
Arakawa was born in Hawaii in December 1959 and grew in the state. He studied piano while growing in Honolulu and, when he was 11 years old in sixth grade, he acted in concerts for young people in front of thousands of first and second grade students in the concert hall of the International Center of Honolulu, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 1971.
Arakawa attended the University of Southern California from 1981 to 1983, the university said in an email.
While she was in Los Angeles, she was an animator of Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team of the North American Soccer League, and worked as a production assistant in the television show “Card Sharks,” said Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 1981.
The classical training pianist met Hackman while working part -time in a California gym in the mid -1980s. They soon moved together and moved to Santa Fe in the late decade.
Arakawa was vice president of Pandora's, a furniture and decoration store for home in Santa Fe, according to commercial records of New Mexico.
Where did Hackman and his wife live?
Its southwest -style ranch is located at the top of a hill with a view to the rocky mountains, far from Hollywood. The area is known as a favorite place between artists and a refuge for celebrities.
The house appeared in an article in 1990 of Architectural Digest. The structure of four bedrooms and 808 square meters in 2.4 hectares had an estimated market value of just over 4 million dollars, according to the tax records of the Santa Fe County Property.
Also read: The curious case of “Emilia Pérez”, the Oscar nominated who fell into misfortune
Hackman was often seen by the historic state capital. His hobbies included paint, deep waters diving and, later, write novels. The couple enjoyed watching the DVD that Arakawa rented, Hackman told the Empire Cine Magazine in a 2009 interview.
In his last years, Hackman was seen much less in public. The newspapers reported Hackman sightings in mundane stages, such as the New York Post explained that the exactor threw gasoline and bought a chicken sandwich in Wendy's in 2023.