Oscar-Winning Actor Gene Hackman, Wife Found Dead in Santa Fe Home

Authorities said foul play is not suspected to be a factor in the couple’s death.

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa arrive at the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 19, 2003. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Oscar-winning actor and author Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Feb. 26, authorities said.

Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, a classical pianist, were found alongside their dog, which was also deceased, at about 1:45 p.m. local time, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Avila said.

Officers visited the home to conduct a welfare check, Avila said.

Authorities have not released any details about the circumstances surrounding their deaths. Foul play is not suspected, and an investigation is ongoing.

Hackman was married twice and had three children. He married Arakawa in 1991.

The award-winning actor had lived in Santa Fe since the 1980s, residing in a gated community on Old Sunset Trail, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Hackman is best known for his roles in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller “The French Connection,” for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor, as well as Alan Parker’s 1988 film “Mississippi Burning” and Clint Eastwood’s 1992 film “Unforgiven,” for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

He also played Lex Luthor in several Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s and starred in “Runaway Jury” and “The Conversation,” as well as Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Tributes poured in for the actor following news of his passing.

George Takei, best known for his role in Star Trek, described Hackman as a powerful actor who will be missed.

“We have lost one of the true giants of the screen,” Takei said in a post on the social media platform, X. “Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it. He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe.”

Elsewhere, French film studio StudioCanal’s UK arm called Hackman’s death a “colossal loss for cinema.”

With a career that began in the early 1960s and spanned more than six decades, Hackman was one of the industry’s most respected and honored performers, appearing in more than 80 films, as well as on television and stage.

During that time, the former Marine received two Academy Awards, two BAFTAs, four Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Born in California in 1930, Hackman enlisted in the Marines at the age of 16, serving for four and a half years.

After completing his military service, he briefly lived in New York before deciding to pursue acting.

In 1964, he was cast as the young suitor in the Broadway play “Any Wednesday,” a role that led to his on-screen debut opposite Warren Beatty in the melodrama “Lilith” the same year.

His breakout performance came as Clyde’s brother, “Buck Barrow,” in the iconic 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

Hackman’s last major movie role was in 2004 as Monroe Cole in “Welcome to Mooseport”, after which he appeared to step back from acting.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,” he told Empire in 2009. “The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.