Hollywood star Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead at their home.
Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead inside their home in New Mexico.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the couple were found dead on Wednesday afternoon (today NZ time), adding that there was no immediate indication of foul play.
Mendoza did not provide a cause of death.
The media reports said the couple died along with their dog.
There is an “active investigation” ongoing into the deaths, a police department statement said.
“We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.
“This is an active investigation – however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.”
“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant,” Mendoza said.
The acclaimed actor, who was 95, received two Oscars and two Baftas in his acting career which spanned decades.
He secured the best actor Oscar in 1972 for his role as Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection.
Hackman landed a further Academy Award in the best supporting actor category for his part in 1992 Western Unforgiven, directed by Clint Eastwood.
The screen star, who celebrated his 95th birthday in late January, was known for his reclusive nature, having stepped away from Hollywood nearly two decades ago.
His last film role was in 2004, playing Monroe ‘Eagle’ Cole in the political satire Welcome to Mooseport.
Hackman first rose to fame with his breakout role in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and went on to star in iconic films such as Superman, The French Connection, and Get Shorty, CNN reported.
Despite his successful career, he made the unexpected decision to retire from acting in 2004.
Hackman’s wife Arakawa, 63, was a classical pianist.
Hackman also starred in the 2001 Wes Anderson hit The Royal Tenenbaums.
“You go through stages in your career that you feel very good about yourself. Then you feel awful, like, ‘Why didn’t I choose something else?’” Hackman reflected to GQ magazine in 2011, seven years after his retirement from acting.
“But overall I’m pretty satisfied that I made the right choice when I decided to be an actor. I was lucky to find a few things that I could do well as an actor and that I could look at and say, ‘Yeah, that’s all right.’”
Hackman appeared in nearly 80 films over four decades.
He received five Academy Award nominations, winning two, as well as two BAFTA Awards out of five career nominations.
Hackman was nominated for eight Golden Globe awards and won three, in addition to being presented with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2003 for his “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
Hackman lied about his age to enlist in the Marines when he was 16, serving just over four years as a radio operator, ABC reported.
He briefly attended college following his discharge with ideas of becoming a journalist, but dropped out after six months to move to New York, working in TV production.
He later moved to California, determined to study acting, inspired by screen legend James Cagney.
He was taking classes at the famed Pasadena Playhouse when Hackman met Dusty Hoffman, ABC reported.
Though their classmates voted them “least likely to succeed,” according to Hackman, he moved to New York, with the younger Hoffman following not long after, the latter sharing an apartment with another struggling young actor, Robert Duvall.
With AFP
Toxicology tests suggest he was 'severely impaired' before he died.