Gene Hackman, His Wife, and his dog found dead in Santa Fe home; no foul play suspected

Legendary actor, two-time Oscar winner, and author Gene Hackman, along with his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home located in the Santa Fe Summit community, northeast of the city.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed just after midnight Thursday the couple had died, along with their dog.

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In an interview on Wednesday evening, Mendoza stated that there was no immediate indication of foul play. He did not provide a cause of death or specify when the couple might have died.

Throughout a career spanning more than six decades, Hackman won two Academy Awards for his performances in The French Connection and Unforgiven.

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A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico confirmed that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.

This is an ongoing investigation; however, we do not suspect foul play.

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Hackman was 95 years old, and his wife, a classical pianist, was 64.

He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller, *The French Connection*. Additionally, he received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Western film, *Unforgiven*, in 1992.

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His other Oscar-nominated roles include Buck Barrow in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde,” which marked his breakthrough performance alongside Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. He was also nominated for his role in the 1970 film “I Never Sang for My Father,” and he played the agent in “Mississippi Burning” (1988).

On February 26, 2025, at approximately 1:45 p.m., deputies from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park. There, they found Gene Hackman, 95, his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and their dog deceased.

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Much celebrated actor Hackman played more than 100 roles in total, including supervillain Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Hackman acted opposite many Hollywood heavyweights including Al Pacino in 1973’s Scarecrow, Gene Wilder in 1974’s Young Frankenstein, and Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton in 1981’s Reds.

He also starred in the hit movies Runaway Jury and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, as well as Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums.

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Coppola led the tributes to the late star on Thursday, calling him “a great artist”. Posting on Instagram he wrote: “Gene Hackman was a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”

Star Trek actor George Takei posted on X that “we have lost one of the true giants of the screen”.

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“Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it,” he wrote. “He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”

As well as his Oscar wins, he also collected two Baftas, four Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

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He took a comedic turn playing a conservative senator in 1996’s The Birdcage alongside Robin Williams and Nathan Lan, who star as a gay couple.

His last big screen appearance came as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004, after which he stepped back from Hollywood for a quieter life in New Mexico.

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‘Actors had to be handsome’

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Born in California in 1930, Hackman had enlisted in the US Marine Corps after lying about his age at 16, serving for four-and-a-half years.

He was stationed in China, Hawai’i, and Japan before being discharged in 1951.

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Following his military service, after living and working in New York and studying journalism and television production at the University of Illinois, he decided to move back to California to pursue his acting dream.

Hackman joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended a young Dustin Hoffman.

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“I suppose I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about 10, maybe even younger than that,” he once said. “Recollections of early movies that I had seen and actors that I admired like James Cagney, Errol Flynn, those kind of romantic action guys.

“When I saw those actors, I felt I could do that. But I was in New York for about eight years before I had a job. I sold ladies’ shoes, polished leather furniture, and drove a truck.

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“I think that if you have it in you and you want it bad enough, you can do it.”

He added that he “wanted to act” but had “always been convinced that actors had to be handsome”.

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“That came from the days when Errol Flynn was my idol. I’d come out of a theatre and be startled when I looked in a mirror because I didn’t look like Flynn. I felt like him.”

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He moved back to New York in 1963, performing in Off-Broadway productions – including at the Music Box Theatre for the comedy Any Wednesday – and smaller TV roles.

But he began to make his name in the 1970s, becoming a leading man as New York City detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection.

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From then on he became a fixture on the big screen in the likes of the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure.

He also appeared in Children From Their Games at the former Morosco Theatre, Poor Richard at Helen Hayes Theatre, and The Natural Look at Longacre Theatre, before later returning in 1992 to perform Death And The Maiden at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

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Hackman and his first wife, Faye Maltese, were together for 30 years and raised three children before getting divorced in 1986.

In his later years, he and his second wife, Betsy stayed out of the spotlight, the bar for a rare public appearance together at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, where he won the Cecil B. DeMille award.

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‘Not going to act any longer’

In 2008 he told Reuters that despite the lack of any official announcement, he was “not going to act any longer”.

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“I’ve been told not to say that over the last few years, in case some real wonderful part comes up, but I don’t want to do it any longer.”

He also explained he was focusing his attention away from the big screen and towards his quieter, calmer passion for writing novels.

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“I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press,” he once said.

“It costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on-screen. I think of myself and feel like I’m quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.”

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