Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa both found dead in Sante Fe home
The couple's bodies were found on Wednesday afternoon; authorities have said there's "no immediate indication of foul play."
Story by William Hughes and Emma Keates. Photo: Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa in 1986, Credit: Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa—a two-time Oscar winner (for 1971’s The French Connection and 1992’s Unforgiven) and classically trained pianist, respectively—have died. The couple and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home Wednesday afternoon, according to a report from the Sante Fe New Mexican. Per BBC News, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the deaths, and an investigation is ongoing. As of Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the sherrif’s office said the deaths were now being treated as suspicious after initially saying there was “no immediate indication of foul play,” per The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death has been revealed; Mendoza added that “All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant.” Hackman was 95 and Arakawa was 64.
A five-time Oscar nominee known for playing no-nonsense roles (he once joked to The New York Times that he looked like “your everyday mine worker”), Hackman was a Hollywood mainstay from the 1960s through his retirement in 2004.
Hackman’s breakthrough came in 1971, with his Oscar-winning performance as officer Popeye Doyle in William Friedkin’s The French Connection. In his Oscar speech, he thanked Friedkin, who “really brought me through this when I wanted to quit,” per The Hollywood Reporter. It was the role that cemented him as a leading man, but not his first notable turn. Prior to The French Connection, Hackman had already begun to build his legacy through characters like Buck Barrow in Bonnie And Clyde and Gene Garrison in I Never Sang For My Father, both of which earned Best Supporting Actor nods at the Oscars.