Gene Hackman and pianist wife Betsy Arakawa found dead at home with their dog

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The Oscar-winning star of The French Connection, The Conversation, Superman and The Poseidon Adventure has died, along with his classical musician wife



Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead on Wednesday afternoon in their home in the Santa Fe Summit community northeast of the city.

In a statement to the Santa Fe New Mexican, County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said: “We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday.” The Press Association confirmed there is an “active investigation’’ into the deaths. Sheriff Mendoza said there was no immediate indication of foul play. He did not provide a cause of death or say when the couple might have died.

Hackman, 95, had lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, since the 1980s and married Arakawa, 63, in 1991, after meeting her in the gym where she then worked. Little is known of Arakawa’s later career as a musician, although in 2014 Hackman praised her “unwavering, specific read-throughs” of the western novels he later took to authoring.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the couple’s home in a gated community called Old Sunset Trail on Wednesday afternoon to investigate the deaths of two elderly people and a dog. It was unclear whether the deputies were responding to a report of the deaths or if they were making a welfare check at the home.

The deputies discovered the bodies of a man in his 90s and a woman in her 60s, Mendoza initially reported.

Born in 1930, he joined the marines in the late 1940s, and decided to study acting in the late 1950s. Hackman befriended Dustin Hoffman at the Pasadena Playhouse and the two were voted “the least likely to succeed”. With various bit parts on TV and stage under his belt, Hackman made his big screen debut opposite Warren Beatty in melodrama Lilith in 1964.

Three years later, Hackman made his first real impression with another role alongside Beatty. Playing Buck Barrow in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, he secured his first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor. He lost to George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke but it led to his first leading role in 1970’s I Never Sang For My Father with Melvyn Douglas. However, Hackman struggled with the father-son relationship drama. “I didn’t think a lot of the project and was taking it very lightly,” Hackman said in a 2002 interview with the Guardian. “Then Melvyn Douglas came up to me and said, ‘Gene, you’ll never get what you want with the way you’re acting’ and he didn’t mean acting – he meant that I was not behaving myself. He taught me not to use my reservations as an excuse for not doing the work.”

The advice helped to craft a performance that gave Hackman his second Oscar nomination. The following year he took the lead in William Friedkin’s action thriller The French Connection and graduated to the A-list, thanks to the film’s box office success. Hackman won his first Oscar for best actor for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle.

Hackman had further success in the 70s with roles in The Poseidon Adventure and A Bridge Too Far, and also displayed a talent for comedy with acclaimed turns in Young Frankenstein and Superman, playing the superhero’s nemesis Lex Luthor in the latter.

But his best work of the decade could be found in films that few went to see: Arthur Penn’s mystery noir Night Moves, Jerry Schatzberg’s road movie Scarecrow and Coppola’s Palme d’Or-winning conspiracy thriller The Conversation. During the same period he also turned down roles in Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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May they all Rest In Peace

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Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes one week apart



Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman died of natural causes about a week after his wife Betsy Arakawa, who died after contracting a rare virus, a New Mexico medical investigator has said.

Hackman, 95, died at his Santa Fe home from coronary artery disease, with advanced Alzheimer's disease a contributing factor.

Ms Arakawa, 65, died in the same house from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a respiratory illness caused by exposure to infected rodents. Her cause of death was listed as natural.

Authorities believe she passed away about seven days before her husband, to whom she had been married for more than 30 years. During his career, Hackman won two Academy Awards for The French Connection and Unforgiven.

It is likely that Ms Arakawa died first on 11 February, Dr Heather Jarrell of the New Mexico Medical Investigator's Office told a news conference on Friday.

She said it was "reasonable to conclude" that Hackman had died on 18 February.

Ms Arakawa's last known movements and correspondence were on 11 February, when she was seen going to a grocery store, a CVS pharmacy and a pet store, before returning home in the early evening.

Given that Hackman was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease it is "quite possible that he was not aware that she [his wife] was deceased", said Dr Jarrell.

She told reporters she was "not aware of his normal daily functioning capability".

Hackman had "significant heart disease, and ultimately that's what resulted in his death", Dr Jarrell said, adding that he had had chronic high blood pressure.

He had not eaten anything recently, but had shown no indications of dehydration, she added.

At the news conference, New Mexico Public Health Veterinarian Erin Phipps emphasised that hantavirus infections were extremely rare.

HPS is transmitted through contact with rodent droppings, urine or saliva, often when contaminated dust is inhaled.

She noted that 136 cases had been reported in the state over the past 50 years, with 42% resulting in fatalities.

Dr Phipps said evidence of rodent activity had been found in some buildings on the property, though the risk inside the main house was considered "low".

Investigators are trying to determine how Ms Arakawa contracted the illness. Hackman tested negative for hantavirus.

The couple were found in their home after neighbourhood security conducted a welfare check and saw their bodies on the ground through the window.

The remains were discovered in advanced stages of decomposition.

Hackman's body was in a sideroom next to the kitchen, with a walking cane and a pair of sunglasses nearby, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Ms Arakawa's body was in the bathroom, with scattered pills close to her.

Sheriff's deputies found medication for thyroid and blood pressure treatment, along with pain reliever Tylenol, according to a court-filed inventory.

Citing privacy laws, authorities did not disclose who had been prescribed the drugs.

One of the couple's three dogs was also found dead inside a crate near Ms Arakawa, while the other two dogs were alive.

The cause of death for the dog is yet to be determined, officials say. Dr Phipps told reporters that dogs did not become ill from hantavirus.

Initial investigations found no signs of forced entry or foul play at the couple's $3.8m (£3m) home. Tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative, and no significant gas leaks were detected.

Hackman is survived by three adult children from his previous marriage.