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The following biography
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Eugene Allen Hackman[1] (born January 30,
1930) is an acclaimed Academy Award-winning American actor.
****
Gene Hackman
Born 30 January 1930
San Bernardino, California, USA
****
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 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. 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) 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).
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. In
1990, he underwent heart surgery, which kept him away from work for a
while. 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.
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 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. 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.
He costarred with Will Smith in Enemy of
the State.
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
v • d • e Main Filmography
Bonnie & Clyde (1967) | Marooned (1969) |I
Never Sang for My Father(1970) | The French Connection (1971) | The
Poseidon Adventure (1972) | Scarecrow (1973) | The Conversation (1974)
| The French Connection II (1975) | Night Moves (1975) |Bite the Bullet
(1975) | A Bridge Too Far (1977) | March or Die (1977) | Superman (1978)
| Superman II (1980) | Reds (1981) | Under Fire (1983) | No Way Out
(1987) | Superman IV (1987) | Mississippi Burning (1988) | Postcards
from the Edge (1990) Loose Cannons (1990) Class Action (1991) |
Unforgiven (1992) | The Firm (1993) | Crimson Tide (1995) | Get Shorty
(1995) | The Birdcage (1996) | Extreme Measures (1996) | Enemy of the
State (1998) | The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) | Behind Enemy Lines| Heist
(film) (2001) | Runaway Jury (2003) |
References
Footnotes
1. His 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
****
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman
Date Article Copied:
January 2007
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