Gene Hackman, a Hollywood giant and two-time Oscar winner, was found dead along with his wife and dog in their New Mexico home Wednesday, though investigators believe they may have been dead for some time and the cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Hackman, 95, was a prolific actor who performed as an array of heroes and villains in films including “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers” and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Questions swirl around the deaths as details of the scene trickle out. Here is what we know:
Investigators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have not said whether they have determined the cause of death.
According to a search warrant affidavit, a maintenance worker called police after finding the bodies Wednesday. He reported the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work.
In a 911 call, the maintenance worker said he could see Hackman’s wife, 63-year-old Betsy Arakawa, laying on the floor through a window but he was unable to get inside.
Hackman’s body was discovered in the home’s entryway and Arakawa was found dead next to a space heater in a bathroom. On a countertop near Arakawa, pills were scattered next to an open prescription bottle, according to the search warrant.
Police said they found the body of a German shepherd in the bathroom closet. Two other dogs were found alive on the property.
No foul play was suspected, authorities said, though a search warrant showed investigators thought the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
The New Mexico Gas Co. tested gas lines at the home but didn’t find any signs of problems at the time, according to the warrant.
An investigator noted people may not show signs of poisoning if they are exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide, but also there weren’t signs of a leak.
Results of autopsies conducted on both bodies were not available Thursday, authorities said.
Hackman appeared in a broad range of movie roles dating back to 1961, when he debuted in “Mad Dog Coll.” Through the next four decades, his roles including arch nemesis Lex Luthor in the “Superman” movies and the iconic coach in “Hoosiers” helped put Hackman on a Hollywood pedestal.
Hackman’s performance as an obsessed and amoral cop in the 1971 film “The French Connection” earned an Oscar for best actor in a leading role and was considered one of his defining roles. Hackman swung another Oscar for playing a sadistic sheriff in 1992’s “Unforgiven.”
Hackman demurred from the pomp of celebrity and was considered an actor’s actor who focused on the job and not on his image, dodging social circuit appearances beyond some award ceremonies.
As a boy, films offered Hackman an escape from a tumultuous homelife with an abusive father who left the family when Hackman was 13.
Sympathy and admiration for Hackman poured in from Hollywood legends including director Francis Ford Coppola, actor-director Clint Eastwood and actor Bill Murray.
Murray worked with Hackman on director Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tennenbaums.” Hackman gave young directors such as Anderson a hard time but brought skill to the set, Murray said.
“I watched him once do, like, 25 takes where he did it perfectly with an actor who kept blowing it every single time,” Murray told media. “He was a great one. He was a great actor.”
Actor Cary Elwes called Hackman a “force of nature.”
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