Gene Hackman and his wife found dead

[Justo Miranda]

The elderly are like Haiti, everyone knows where they are, but visitors are scarce.

 

[NMaude]

But maybe he and the missus were private folk, dunno.

After Gene Hackman retired from acting in 2004 he and his wife became recluses, the house they lived in was part of a gated community.

 

[NMaude]

A new update from CBS news:

New Mexico police are still seeking clues into the mysterious deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife. Investigators have ruled out many theories about their deaths, like carbon monoxide poisoning. Tom Hanson has the latest details.

As was pointed out in the clip the two of them were very private.

If I were to speculate what Gene Hackman died from my guess, given that he was fitted with a pacemaker, was a heart-attack which could be the last event registered on February 17th.

On a completely different note here are some clips from "Hearbreakers" where he played a tobacco baron addicted to his own product:

A rather nasty smoker's cough there.

Since this film was released in 2001 it would've been one of the last films he did before he retired.

 

[NMaude]

Gene Hackman was also one of the lead characters from the 1972 disaster film "The Poseidon Adventure":

I was very annoyed that Gene Hackman's character almost made it to the end only to be killed off in the Poseidon's engine-room. In regards to the 1970s disaster films I'm surprised and disappointed that Gene Hackman wasn't cast in "The Towering Inferno" which had a LOT of big acting names appearing in the film.

 

[Halcyon66]

The strange point that keeps coming up in the reporting is they both seemed to fall somehow?

Regards,

 

[NMaude]

The strange point that keeps coming up in the reporting is they both seemed to fall somehow?

Gene Hackman definitely fell (Either because of a medical event or he slipped and fell) and I won't be surprised if the cause of death is revealed to be a fatal heart-attack, as for his wife, Betsy Arakawa, she was found dead in their bathroom with an open bottle of prescription medication (Yet to be revealed) with pills scattered on the floor. What I suspect is that it was a case of death by natural-causes (Remember that Gene Hackman was 95) followed by a suicide (Betsy Arakawa), the two of them had been married since 1991 (34 years) and were reported to be deeply devoted to each other.

 

[Halcyon66]

Agreed, yet it is reported that she had fallen as well?

Very sad indeed.

Regards,

 

[NMaude]

Some new details about the 911 call have just been revealed, from News Nation:

NewsNation law & justice contributor Jennifer Coffindaffer joins NewsNation to discuss new details surrounding the deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa. The couple, along with their dog, was found dead in their New Mexico home Wednesday by a maintenance worker. A search warrant revealed that investigators considered the deaths “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”

So while their deaths don't appear to be the result of foul-play the circumstances in which they died made the police suspicious. Betsy Arakawa's toxicology report will be of great interest as it will reveal if she lethal levels of a prescription dedication in her system when she died.

At the 2025 Oscars Morgan Freeman gave a tribute to Gene Hackman: