National
Gene Hackman, Oscar-winning star of Superman dies at 95
Gene Hackman best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1978 Superman movie and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found dead in their home Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that foul play “is not suspected.”
Eugene Allen Hackman was born on Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California. He grew up in Danville, Illinois, where his father, Eugene Hackman, worked as a pressman for the local newspaper, and his mother, Anna, was a waitress. When Hackman was 13, his parents divorced and his father left the family soon after – waving goodbye as he drove past his young son, who was playing at a friend’s house down the street, Hackman later recalled to The New York Times.
Hackman lied about his age to enlist in the Marines when he was 16, serving just over four years as a radio operator. He briefly attended college following his discharge with ideas of becoming a journalist but dropped out after six months to move to New York, work in TV production. A few more moves later, he wound up in Pasadena, California, determined to study acting, inspired by his favorite actor, screen legend James Cagney.
It was while taking classes at the famed Pasadena Playhouse that Hackman met a fellow young actor named Dusty Hoffman, soon to be billed as Dustin. Though their classmates voted them “least likely to succeed,” according to Hackman, he moved to New York, with the younger Hoffman following not long after, the latter sharing an apartment with another struggling young actor, Robert Duvall.
Actor Goerge Takei said on X “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it. He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”
