Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman was found dead at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday afternoon, alongside his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog.
Hackman was 95, while Arakawa was 63 at the time of their deaths. Authorities have not yet determined the cause, though foul play is not suspected. An investigation is ongoing.
Investigating Gene Hackman and his wife’s suspicious deaths
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“On February 26, 2025, at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park, where Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, along with a dog, were found deceased,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to Fox News Digital early Thursday.
Hackman, a two-time Academy Award winner, was known for his performances in The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992). Over a career spanning more than four decades, he played a wide range of roles, from villains to heroes, in dramas, comedies, and action films before retiring in the early 2000s.
Among his most notable performances, Hackman starred in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), portrayed Lex Luthor in Superman (1978), delivered a comedic turn in Young Frankenstein (1974), and played the eccentric patriarch in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Director Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with Hackman on The Conversation (1974), paid tribute to the actor on Instagram.
“The loss of a great artist is always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman was a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Coppola wrote. “I mourn his loss and celebrate his existence and contribution.”
Further details regarding the deaths are expected as the investigation continues.