Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Eugene Ezra Hackman and Anna Lyda Elizabeth.
50 Facts About Gene Hackman
2.
Gene Hackman has Pennsylvania Dutch, English, and Scottish ancestry; his mother was Canadian, and was born in Sarnia, Ontario.
3.
Gene Hackman's family moved frequently, finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his English-born maternal grandmother, Beatrice.
4.
Gene Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper.
5.
Gene Hackman's parents divorced when he was 13 and his father subsequently left the family.
6.
Gene Hackman decided that he wanted to become an actor when he was ten years old.
7.
Gene Hackman lived briefly in Storm Lake, Iowa, and spent his sophomore year at Storm Lake High School.
8.
Gene Hackman left home at age 16 and lied about his age to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
9.
Gene Hackman served four and a half years as a field radio operator.
10.
Gene Hackman's mother died in 1962 as a result of a fire she accidentally started while smoking.
11.
Gene Hackman joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman.
12.
Gene Hackman began performing in several Off-Broadway plays, starting with The Saintliness of Margery Kempe in 1959 and including Come to the Palace of Sin in 1963.
13.
Gene Hackman returned to Broadway in Poor Richard by Jean Kerr, which ran for over a hundred performances.
14.
Gene Hackman continued to do television - The Trials of O'Brian, Hawk, The FBI - and he a small part as Dr John Whipple in the epic film Hawaii.
15.
Gene Hackman had small roles in features like First to Fight, A Covenant with Death and Banning.
16.
Gene Hackman did Fragments and The Basement Off Broadway the same year.
17.
Gene Hackman was in episodes of Iron Horse and Insight, In 1968.
18.
Gene Hackman supported Jim Brown in two films, The Split and Riot,.
19.
Gene Hackman nearly accepted the role of Mike Brady for the TV series The Brady Bunch, but his agent advised that he decline it in exchange for a more promising role, which he did.
20.
Gene Hackman was nominated for a second Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in I Never Sang for My Father.
21.
Gene Hackman starred in Doctors' Wives, The Hunting Party then 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 stardom.
22.
Gene Hackman followed The French Connection with leading roles in Cisco Pike, and Prime Cut then was in the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, which was nominated for several Oscars, and won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
23.
That same year, Gene Hackman appeared, in what would become one of his most famous comedic roles, as Harold the Blind Man in Young Frankenstein.
24.
Gene Hackman appeared in Scarecrow alongside Al Pacino, Zandy's Bride and Night Moves for director Arthur Penn.
25.
Gene Hackman reprised his Oscar-winning role as Doyle in the sequel French Connection II, and co-starred with Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli in Lucky Lady, a notorious flop.
26.
Gene Hackman showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie, a role he would reprise in its 1980 and 1987 sequels.
27.
Gene Hackman alternated between leading and supporting roles during the 1980s.
28.
Gene Hackman appeared opposite Barbra Streisand in All Night Long and supported Warren Beatty in Reds.
29.
Gene Hackman played the lead in Eureka and a support in Under Fire.
30.
Gene Hackman provided the voice of God in Two of a Kind and starred in Uncommon Valor, Misunderstood, Twice in a Lifetime, Target for Arthur Penn, and Power.
31.
Gene Hackman starred in Mississippi Burning, where he was nominated for a second Best Actor Oscar.
32.
Gene Hackman starred in Loose Cannons with Dan Aykroyd and had a support role in Postcards from the Edge.
33.
Gene Hackman appeared with Anne Archer in Narrow Margin, a remake of the 1952 film The Narrow Margin.
34.
Gene Hackman had pledged to avoid violent roles, but Eastwood convinced him to take the part, which earned him a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor.
35.
Gene Hackman would appear in two other films based on John Grisham novels, playing convict Sam Cayhall on death row in The Chamber, and jury consultant Rankin Fitch in Runaway Jury.
36.
Gene Hackman played film director Harry Zimm with John Travolta in the comedy-drama Get Shorty.
37.
Gene Hackman co-starred with Hugh Grant in Extreme Measures and reunited with Clint Eastwood in Absolute Power.
38.
Gene Hackman did Twilight with Paul Newman for director Robert Benton, did one of the voices for Antz and co-starred with Will Smith in Enemy of the State, his character reminiscent of the one he had portrayed in The Conversation.
39.
Gene Hackman co-starred with Morgan Freeman in Under Suspicion, Keanu Reeves in The Replacements, Owen Wilson in Behind Enemy Lines, Sigourney Weaver in Heartbreakers and appeared in the David Mamet crime thriller Heist, as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job.
40.
Gene Hackman gained much critical acclaim playing against type as the head of an eccentric family in Wes Anderson's comedy film The Royal Tenenbaums, for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
41.
In 2004, Gene Hackman appeared alongside Ray Romano in the comedy Welcome to Mooseport, his final film acting role to date.
42.
On July 7,2004, Gene Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, where he announced that he had no future film projects lined up and believed his acting career was over.
43.
Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Gene Hackman has written three historical fiction novels: Wake of the Perdido Star, a sea adventure of the 19th century; Justice for None, a Depression-era tale of murder; and Escape from Andersonville about a prison escape during the American Civil War.
44.
In 2011, Gene Hackman appeared on the Fox Sports Radio show The Loose Cannons, where he discussed his career and his novels with Pat O'Brien, Steve Hartman, and Vic "The Brick" Jacobs.
45.
In 1956, Gene Hackman married Faye Maltese, with whom he had one son and two daughters: Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Gene Hackman.
46.
Gene Hackman was often out on location making films while the children were growing up.
47.
Gene Hackman is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and was "proud" to be included on Nixon's Enemies List.
48.
Gene Hackman won the Long Beach Grand Prix Celebrity Race.
49.
Gene Hackman is a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars and regularly attended Jaguars games as a guest of former head coach Jack Del Rio.
50.
In 2012,81-year-old Gene Hackman was struck by a pickup truck while bicycling in the Florida Keys.