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Eugene Allen HackmanHis middle name is "Allen", according to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com (born January 30, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, considered by many to be one of the most talented performers of his generation.

Biography

Early life

Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California to Eugene Ezra Hackman (a newspaper pressman) and Lyda Gray. His parents divorced while he was a child, and he moved from one place to another until finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where he lived with his English-born grandmother, Beatrice Gray.

At 16 he left home to join the Marines, 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.

Career

Already over 30 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was in that school that Hackman 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 with his wife. Hoffman later followed them. 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 Beverly Hills 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 began performing in several off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, he had the offer to play on Broadway, which opened the doors to the movies. His first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. Another secondary role, Buck Barrow, in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1971, 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. He also gave us a great interpretation such as Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974), the classic movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and 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).

By 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 Hoosiers, Loose Cannons and Bat*21. In 1990, he underwent heart surgery, which kept him away from work for a while. In 1992, he played the memorable and violent sheriff Bill Daggett in the Clint Eastwood directed Unforgiven, which earned him a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor, the movie itself went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Despite perhaps lacking the iconic status of some of his contemporaries, such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino or Jack Nicholson, Hackman has an almost unmatched ability to disappear into the roles he plays, blending a character actor aesthetic with his undoubted leading man status. He is also unusually versatile, able to play hard-edged roles, such as in The French Connection and Mississippi Burning as well as convincing comedic turns in fare such as Superman II and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman also wrote two novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999) and Justice for None (2004).

His distinctive voice can be heard in television commercials from time-to-time, notably for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Personal life

Hackman'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.

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.

Academy Awards and Nominations

• 1967 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Bonnie and Clyde
• 1970 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - I Never Sang for My Father
• 1971 - Won - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The French Connection
• 1988 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Mississippi Burning
• 1992 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Unforgiven

Filmography

References

Footnotes

External links

• Gene Hackman Yahoo Group
• Gene Hackman's forgotten Civil Defense film from 1966
• "Gene Hackman Home Page" - Annotated bibliography, filmography, web links, and info on Hackman's Midwest childhood

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