94-Year-Old Gene Hackman Seen In Rare Appearance, Needing Help From Wife To Walk

Gene Hackman was spotted out in public with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, strolling together. The 94-year-old actor, who wore a gray vest and green-gray cargo pants over a plaid button-down shirt, required his partner’s support to move and had a cane in the other hand for extra aid.

Following this rare appearance decades after the Superman star’s retirement, his recent photos made it to social media and attracted the attention of fans, who gave their varying opinion about the former actor’s transformation over the years. “That looks nothing like #genehackman,” someone noted, and several others agreed.

Fans react to Gene Hackman’s ‘different’ look

Per fans’ comments, Gene looked frail and “like the wind could take him away.” “I love him… never would’ve recognized him though,” someone admitted, with another adding that it was “sad in a way to see him aged.” “That doesn’t look very fit to me. Sorry to say,” someone else cautiously echoed. Thankfully many looked on the bright side and gave compliments to the screen icon instead.

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In Gene’s defense, a fan stated, “Don’t do this, I don’t want to remember him like this. I’m glad he’s alive and well under the circumstances, but let’s remember him as he was before. Nobody wants to be remembered as the old enfeebled body that they became if they were lucky enough to become extremely old.” Another simply reminded critics that Gene looked “fit” for his age. “He’s walking, he’s being supported by his wife, he’s shopping, he’s 94 and still around. That’s a win,” they wrote.

Why did Gene Hackman retire from Hollywood?

After four outstanding decades in Hollywood, Gene retired quietly in the late 2000s after hinting to Larry King in a 2004 interview that he had no more productions lined up. Between the ‘60s and then, Gene starred in over 70 films and earned multiple awards and recognitions, including an Oscar for Best Actor in The French Connection and Best Supporting Actor for his role as Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.

Gene’s last movie, Welcome to Mooseport, was a box office disaster, failing to make back even half its production budget of $30 million. Regardless of the flop, Gene remains a legend and is remembered for his amazing work in the film industry and novels like Pursuit and The Wake of the Perdido Star. In addition to his choice, Gene also revealed in 2020 that he was advised to rest after “a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”