By Lex Harvey and Todd Leopold, CNN
Actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in New Mexico, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. He was 95.
Their cause of death has not been confirmed, but it is not believed to be foul play, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told CNN Thursday morning.
Deputies responded to a welfare check request at the home around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday and found Hackman, Arakawa, and a dog deceased, Womack-Avila said.
CNN has reached out to Hackman’s representatives.
Hackman’s performances in such films as “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers,” “Unforgiven,” and “The Firm” elevated character roles to leading-man levels.
Hackman’s best roles were often of conflicted authority figures or surprisingly clever white-collar villains. Many held a hint – sometimes more than a hint – of menace.
He won an Oscar for his portrayal of New York cop Popeye Doyle in 1971’s “The French Connection,” a detective who gets his man but at a high cost. His surveillance expert in 1974’s “The Conversation” is single-minded to the point of obsession, losing all perspective.
He was 36 before he broke through in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” a role he got after losing the part of Mr. Robinson in “The Graduate.” Before that, he’d served in the Marines, scuffled in California and New York – sometimes with a roommate, “Graduate” star Dustin Hoffman – and worked odd jobs, including truck driver and doorman.
Hackman retired at 74. He had lived in Santa Fe in recent decades.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Source: edition.cnn.com