Friday, January 30, 2015

Born Today- Movie Actor Gene Hackman- wikipedia

Gene Hackman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gene Hackman
GeneHackmanJun08.jpg
Hackman at a book signing in 2008
BornEugene Allen Hackman
January 30, 1930 (age 85)
San Bernardino, California, U.S.
ResidenceSanta Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPasadena Playhouse
OccupationActor and author
Years active1956–2004
Home townDanville, Illinois, U.S.
Spouse(s)Faye Maltese (m. 1956; div.1986)
Betsy Arakawa (m. 1991)
Children3
AwardsAcademy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award
Eugene "GeneAllen Hackman[1][2][3] (born January 30, 1930) is an American actor and novelist.
In a career spanning five decades, Hackman has been nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, including best actor in The French Connection. In addition, Hackman has won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. His major subsequent films include The French Connection (1971), in which he played Jimmy "Popeye" DoyleThe Poseidon Adventure (1972); The Conversation (1974); Superman (1978), in which he played arch-villain Lex LuthorHoosiers (1986); Mississippi Burning (1988); Unforgiven (1992); The Firm (1993); Crimson Tide (1995); Get Shorty (1995); The Birdcage (1996); Enemy of the State (1998); and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).

Early life[edit]

Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda Hackman (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman.[4][5] He has a brother, Richard. He has Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, and his mother was born in Lambton, Ontario.[6][7][8] According to a plaque in a city park, he worked for a time as a dog catcher for the local animal shelter.[citation needed] His family moved frequently, finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his English-born maternal grandmother, Beatrice.[6][9] Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper.[10] As a young teenager Hackman was in some of the same social circles as the older Dick Van Dyke at that time. Van Dyke was friends with his older brother Richard. Hackman's parents divorced in 1943 and his father subsequently left the family.[9][10]
Gene lived briefly in Storm Lake, Iowa and spent his sophomore year at Storm Lake High School.[11] At the age of sixteen, Hackman left home to join the United States Marine Corps, where he served four-and-a-half years as a field radio operator.[12] After his discharge, he moved to New York, working in several minor jobs.[12] His mother died in 1962 as a result of a fire she accidentally set while smoking.[13]

Career[edit]

1960s[edit]

In 1956, Hackman began pursuing an acting career; he joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California.[12] It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman.[12]Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed."[12] Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman moved to New York City. A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling California born actors and close friends, sharing apartments in various two-person combinations while living in New York City in the 1960s.[14][15] Hackman was working as a doorman when he ran into an instructor whom he had despised at the Pasadena Playhouse. Reinforcing "The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man had said, "See, Hackman, I told you you wouldn't amount to anything." The three former roommates have since earned 19 Academy Award nominations, with five wins.
Hackman began performing in several Off-Broadway plays. In 1964, he had an offer to co-star in the play[16] Any Wednesday with actress Sandy Dennis. This opened the door to film work. His first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. In 1967, Hackman appeared in an episode of the television series The Invaders entitled The Spores. Another supporting role, Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde,[12] earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1968, he appeared in an episode of "I Spy", in the role of "Hunter", in the episode "Happy Birthday...Everybody".[16] In 1968, he starred in the CBS Playhouse episode "My Father and My Mother". In 1969, he played a ski coach in Downhill Racer and an astronaut in Marooned. Also that year, he played a member of a barnstorming skydiving team that entertained mostly at county fairs: The Gypsy Moths. He nearly accepted the role of Mike Brady for the upcoming TV series, The Brady Bunch, but was advised by his agent to decline in exchange for a more promising role, which he did.

1970s[edit]

Gene Hackman as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971)
In 1971, he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award again, this time for 1970's I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. The next year, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as New York City Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection, marking his graduation to leading man status.[12]
He followed this with leading roles in the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), which was nominated for several Oscars.[12] That same year, Hackman appeared in what became one of his most famous comedic roles as the blind hermit in Young Frankenstein.
He later appeared as one of Teddy Roosevelt's former Rough Riders in the Western horse-race saga Bite the Bullet (1975), as well as in that year's sequel French Connection II. In 1975 he also appeared in the highly regarded—but little viewed—film Night Moves, receiving a BAFTA nomination for lead actor. He appeared in the star-studded war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), as Polish General Stanislaw Sosabowski. Hackman showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978), as he would in its 1980 and 1987 sequels.

1980s[edit]

By the end of the 1980s, Hackman alternated between leading and supporting roles, earning another Best Actor nomination for Mississippi Burning. He had a memorable part as a Secretary of Defense trying to cover up a homicide in 1987's No Way Out opposite Kevin Costner.
During this decade, Hackman also was in RedsUnder FireHoosiersPowerUncommon Valor and Bat*21. A 2008 American Film Institute poll voted Hoosiers the fourth-greatest film of all time in the sports genre.

1990s[edit]

In 1990, the actor underwent an angioplasty, which kept him from work for a while, although he found time for Narrow Margin—a remake of The Narrow Margin (1952). In 1992, he played the sadistic sheriff "Little" Bill Daggett in the western Unforgiven directed by Clint Eastwood and written by David Webb Peoples which earned him a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor. The film won Best Picture.[12] In 1993 he appeared in Geronimo: An American Legend as Brigadier General George Crook. Hackman co-starred with Tom Cruise as a corrupt lawyer in The Firm(1993) and appeared in a second John Grisham story in 1996, playing a convict on death row in The Chamber.
In 1995, Hackman played an inept Hollywood producer in Get Shorty and the villainous fast-draw champion John Herrod in The Quick and the Dead opposite Sharon StoneLeonardo DiCaprioand Russell Crowe, as well as submarine Captain Frank Ramsey in the film Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington.
In 1996, he took a comedic turn as ultra-conservative Senator Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. He also co-starred with Will Smith in the 1998 film Enemy of the State, where his character was reminiscent of the one from The Conversation.
He played a President of the United States who is responsible for a killing in 1997's Absolute Power, re-teaming with director-star Clint Eastwood.

2000s[edit]

Hackman starred in the David Mamet crime film Heist, as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job and the comedy Heartbreakers alongside Sigourney WeaverRay Liotta and Jennifer Love Hewitt. He had a small part as Arnold Margolese in Gore Verbinski's The Mexican. He also had a leading role as the head of an eccentric family in the ensemble cast film The Royal Tenenbaums and in yet another Grisham legal drama, Runaway Jury, at long last getting to make a picture with his longtime friend Dustin Hoffman. Hackman's final film to date was Welcome to Mooseport (2004), a comedy with Ray Romano, in which Hackman portrayed a former President of the United States.
In 2003 at the Golden Globes, Hackman was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."[17]

Retirement from acting[edit]

On July 7, 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which Hackman announced that he had no future film projects lined up and believed his acting career was over. In 2008, while promoting his third novel, Hackman confirmed that he had retired from acting.[18] When asked during a GQ interview in 2011 if he would ever come out of retirement to do one more film, Hackman said he might consider it "...if I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people".

Career as a novelist[edit]

Hackman at a book signing in June 2008
Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman has written three historical fiction novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), a sea adventure of the 19th century, Justice for None (2004), a Depression-era tale of murder, Escape from Andersonville (2008) about a prison escape during the Civil War, Payback at Morning Peak (2011), his first solo effort, a story of love and revenge set in the Old West, and Pursuit (2013), a police thriller.
In 2011, Hackman appeared on the Fox Sports Radio show, The Loose Cannons, where he discussed his career and novels with Pat O'BrienSteve Hartman and Vic "The Brick" Jacobs.

Personal life[edit]

Hackman's first wife was Faye Maltese. They had three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne.[19] The couple divorced in 1986 after three decades of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Hackman competed in Sports Car Club of America races driving an open wheeled Formula Ford in the late seventies. In 1983, Hackman drove a Dan Gurney Team Toyota in the 24 Hours of Daytona Endurance Race. He also won the Long Beach Grand Prix Celebrity Race.
Hackman is an avid fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars and regularly attended Jaguars games as a guest of then-head coach Jack Del Rio. He is friends with Del Rio from Del Rio's playing days at the University of Southern California.[20]
On January 13, 2012, Hackman was struck by a car while riding a bicycle in Islamorada, Florida. He sustained minor injuries and was transported to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, Florida.[21]
On October 30, 2012, Hackman slapped[22] a homeless man he knew in downtown Santa Fe. Hackman told the police that the homeless man became angry when he was refused money, called him a name and moved in close in a "threatening manner". Hackman also told the police that he was then forced to slap the man to fend him off. No charges were filed, as it was determined by police that Hackman acted in self-defense.[22]
On January 28, 2015, after a Grantland article[23] ran with the headline "The Greatest Living American Actor at 85: Gene Hackman Is Gone But Still in Charge," there was concern that the 84-year-old had died.

Theater credits[edit]

Filmography[edit]

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1961Mad Dog CollPolicemanuncredited
1964LilithNorman
1966HawaiiDr. John Whipple
1967BanningTommy Del Gaddo
1967Community Shelter PlanningDonald Ross—Regional Civil Defense Officer
1967A Covenant with DeathHarmsworth
1967First to FightSgt. Tweed
1967Bonnie & ClydeBuck Barrow
1968The SplitDetective Lt. Walter Brill
1969RiotRed Fraker
1969The Gypsy MothsJoe Browdy
1969Downhill RacerEugene Claire
1969MaroonedBuzz Lloyd
1970I Never Sang for My FatherGene Garrison
1971Doctors' WivesDr. Dave Randolph
1971The Hunting PartyBrandt Ruger
1971The French ConnectionNYPD Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
1972Prime CutMary Ann
1972The Poseidon AdventureReverend Frank Scott
1972Cisco PikeSergeant Leo Holland
1973ScarecrowMax Millan
1974The ConversationHarry Caul
1974Young FrankensteinThe Blindman (Harold)
1974Zandy's BrideZandy Allan
1975French Connection IINYPD Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
1975Lucky LadyKibby Womack
1975Night MovesHarry Moseby
1975Bite the BulletSam Clayton
1977The Domino PrincipleRoy Tucker
1977A Bridge Too FarMaj Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski
1977March or DieMaj. William Sherman Foster
1978SupermanLex Luthor
1980Superman IILex LuthorThe Richard Donner Cut released in 2006
1981All Night LongGeorge Dupler
1981RedsPete Van Wherry
1983Under FireAlex Grazier
1983Two of a KindGodUncredited voice role
1983Uncommon ValorCol. Jason Rhodes, USMC (ret)
1984EurekaJack McCann
1984MisunderstoodNed Rawley
1985Twice in a LifetimeHarry MacKenzie
1985TargetWalter Lloyd/Duncan (Duke) Potter
1986PowerWilfred Buckley
1986HoosiersCoach Norman Dale
1987No Way OutDefense Secretary David Brice
1987Superman IV: The Quest for PeaceLex Luthor / voice of Nuclear Man
1988Bat*21Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton, USAF
1988Mississippi BurningFBI Special Agent Rupert Anderson
1988Another WomanLarry Lewis
1988Full Moon in Blue WaterFloyd
1988Split DecisionsDan McGuinn
1989The PackageSgt. Johnny Gallagher
1990Loose CannonsMacArthur Stern
1990Postcards from the EdgeLowell Kolchek
1990Narrow MarginRobert Caulfield
1991Class ActionJedediah Tucker Ward
1991Company BusinessSam Boyd
1992UnforgivenLittle Bill Daggett
1993The FirmAvery Tolar
1993Geronimo: An American LegendBrig. Gen. George Crook
1994Wyatt EarpNicholas Earp
1995The Quick and the DeadJohn Herod
1995Crimson TideCapt. Frank Ramsey
1995Get ShortyHarry Zimm
1996The BirdcageSenator Kevin Keeley
1996Extreme MeasuresDr. Lawrence Myrick
1996The ChamberSam Cayhall
1997Absolute PowerPresident Allen Richmond
1998TwilightJack Ames
1998Enemy of the StateEdward 'Brill' Lyle
1998AntzGeneral MandibleVoice only
1999The Black and the WhiteGrant Ritchie
2000Under SuspicionHenry HearstAlso executive producer
2000The ReplacementsJimmy McGinty
2001HeartbreakersWilliam B. Tensy
2001HeistJoe Moore
2001The MexicanArnold MargoleseUncredited
2001The Royal TenenbaumsRoyal Tenenbaum
2001Behind Enemy LinesAdmiral Leslie McMahon Reigart
2003Runaway JuryRankin Fitch
2004Welcome to MooseportMonroe "Eagle" Cole

Awards and nominations[edit]

Works or publications[edit]

See also[edit]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered