|
Gene Hackman (born Eugene
Allen Hackman on January 30,
1930) is a two-time Academy
Award-winning American actor.
He came to fame during the
1970s, after his role in The
French Connection, and has
continued to appear in major
roles in Hollywood films.
 Early
life
Hackman was born in San
Bernardino, California, to
Eugene Ezra Hackman, a
newspaper pressman, and Lyda
Gray. He has a brother,
Richard. Hackman's 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 grandmother,
Beatrice, who raised him. His
mother died in 1962, as a
result of a fire she
accidentally set while smoking.
At sixteen, Hackman left home
to join the U.S. Marine Corps,
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
1960s
Already over 30 years old,
Hackman decided to become an
actor, and joined the Pasadena
Playhouse in California. It was
there that he 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. 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 Pasadena
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 door to film
work. His first role was in
Lilith, with Warren Beatty in
the leading role. Another
supporting role, Buck Barrow,
in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde,
earned him an Academy Award
nomination as Best Supporting
Actor.
1970s
In
1970, 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, marking his
graduation to leading man
status. He followed this
with leading roles in the
disaster film The Poseidon
Adventure (1972) and
Francis Ford Coppola's The
Conversation (1974). That
same year, Hackman
appeared in one of his
most famous comedic roles
as the Blindman in Young
Frankenstein. He later
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).
1980s
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 Reds, Under Fire,
Hoosiers and Bat*21.
1990s
In 1990, he underwent heart
surgery, which kept him away
from work for a while, although
he still found time for a
remake of The Narrow Margin. In
1992, he played the violent
sheriff Bill Daggett in the
Clint Eastwood western
Unforgiven, which earned him a
second Oscar, this time for
Best Supporting Actor, the film
itself won Best Picture.
2000s
He starred in Heist as an aging
professional thief of
considerable skill who is
forced into taking one final
heist, all the while he has
been "burned," his face having
been seen on tape during a
previous job. David Mamet wrote
and directed the film, Delroy
Lindo and Danny DeVito also
starred.
Present
Despite probably lacking the
iconic status of
contemporaries, such as Robert
De Niro, Al Pacino or Jack
Nicholson, Hackman has an
ability to disappear into the
roles he plays, blending a
character actor aesthetic with
his 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 The Birdcage 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. He will be using
that talent as Police
Supervisor Al Bressler in the
Dirty Harry (video game),
reuniting him with Unforgiven
and Absolute Power
star/director Clint
Eastwood.
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
Some of the
information on this page came
from a Wikipedia
article and is
licensed under the GNU
Documentation License.
©2008
www.geneticmatrix.com.
|
Gene
Hackman - Generator
- Biography