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Eugene Allen Hackman (born 30 January 1930) is an Oscar winning American
actor. Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California to Eugene Hackman (a
newspaper pressman) and Lyda Gray. His parents divorced while he was a child,
and he therefore moved from one place to another until he settled finally in
Danville, Illinois, where he lived with his English-born grandmother. At 16
he left home to join the Marines, where he served 3 years as a radio
operator. Having finished his service, he moved to New York, where he worked
in several minor jobs. He then studied television production and journalism
at the University of Illinois, taking advantage of the "G.I. Bill".
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Already over 30 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined
the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was in that school that Hackman
forged a friendship with another aspiring actor named Dustin Hoffman.
Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were
later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed", which has proven famously untrue.
Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman hopped on a bus bound for New York
City with his wife, with Hoffman later following. A 2004 article in Vanity
Fair described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling
actors and close friends, while living in New York City in the Sixties. As
one of many odd jobs, Hackman was working as a doorman when he ran into an
instructor whom he despised at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Reinforcing the
"The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man had said "See Hackman, I told
you you wouldn't amount to anything." Hackman began performing in several
off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, he had the offer to play on Broadway,
which opened the doors to the movies. His first role was in Lilith, with
Warren Beatty in the leading role. Another secondary role, Buck Barrow, in
1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best
Supporting Actor. In 1971, he was again nominated for the same award, this
time for I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas. The
next year he won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as
Popeye Doyle in The French Connection.
By the end of the 1980s Hackman was a deeply respected actor (during the
decade he made at least seventeen movies - see list below), and alternated
between leading and supporting roles, earning another Best Actor nomination
for Mississippi Burning. In 1990, he underwent heart surgery, which kept him
away from work for a while. In 1992, he played the sadistic sheriff, Bill
Daggett in Unforgiven, for which role he earned a second Oscar, this time
for Best Supporting Actor. After so many years of acting, Hackman wanted to
try another field of creativity, and wrote his first novel, which was
published in 1999, a year that was exceptional in that he did not appear in
any film.
His distinctive voice can be heard in television commercials from time-to-time,
notably for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer
Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement.
Hackman is one of the most acclaimed actors of his era. In over 40 years, he
has convincingly played a wide variety of characters, not only in cinema,
but also in TV productions, and on stage. Hackman's first wife was Fay
Maltese. They had three children, but they divorced in 1986 after 30 years
of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Beverly
Hills and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Betsy is co-owner of a upscale retail home-furnishing
store in Santa Fe, called Pandora's, Inc.
On 7 July 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which he
announced that he had no future film projects lined up, and believes his
acting career is finished. The interview came just a week after the death of
Hackman's hero, Marlon Brando. |
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