Feb. 27 (UPI) — Two-time Oscar award-winning actor Gene Hackman and his musician wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their home in Sante Fe, New Mexico, local police announced early Thursday.
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, were discovered at their home on Sunset Trail in the Sante Fe Summit district of the city, about four miles northeast of downtown, on Wednesday afternoon together with their dog, the local Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, CNN and BBC reported.
The couple were found after Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office deputies attended the property in response to a request to check on their welfare, spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told CNN.
Sante Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said early indications did not suggest foul play in their deaths, but he gave no further details of a possible cause of death or when they died.
“This is an active investigation — however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor,” said Mendoza.
“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant.”
Hackman was awarded Oscars for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller The French Connection and for Best Supporting Actor for playing Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Western, Unforgiven.
He was nominated for two others.
Born in San Bernardino, Calif., in 1930, Hackman turned to acting after a four-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, training on the stage alongside Dustin Hoffman at the Pasadena Playhouse before going on to appear in more than 100 movies in a star-studded career spanning five decades, often in violent roles that established a reputation as the tough guy of Hollywood.
Hackman got his big break in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, playing a member of the Barrow crime family. Other big roles included Polish Commander Stanislaw Sosabowski in the World War II epic A Bridge Too Far, Lex Luther in Superman, and an FBI agent in Mississippi Burning.
He was also a strong comedic actor, heading up an ensemble cast for The Royal Tenenbaum’s for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2002.
Hackman retired from acting in 2004, advice of his cardiologist saying he’d had enough of the entertainment business and moved to Sante Fe with Arakawa.
Hackman had three children from his 30-year marriage with Faye Maltese which ended in 1986.
