at a book signing in Albuquerque 2008
Born	Eugene Allen Hackman January 30, 1930 (1930-01-30) (age 79) San Bernardino, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964 – present

Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, and continued to appear in Hollywood films playing major roles, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning, Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven, Lex Luthor in Superman (plus two of its sequels), Captain Frank Ramsey in Crimson Tide, Joe Moore in Heist and Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in Behind Enemy Lines.

Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He has a brother, Richard. Hackman's family moved from one place to another until finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his maternal grandmother, Beatrice, and where Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper. Hackman's parents divorced in 1943. His mother died in 1962, as a result of a fire she accidentally set while smoking. At sixteen, Hackman left home to join the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served four-and-a-half years as a field radio operator. Having finished his service, he moved to New York, working in several minor jobs before moving to study television production and journalism at the University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill.

In an in-studio interview on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, with McGraw Milhaven on KTRS 550-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, Gene clarified the following - although some biographies claim he studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he never did and has yet to even visit the campus.

At 26 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed". Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman hopped on a bus bound for New York City. A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling actors and close friends while living in New York City in the 1960s. 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." (Some reports allege that it was one of his former drill instructors from the Marines who saw him there and told him this.)

Hackman began performing in several off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, he had an offer to co-star in the play 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. Another supporting role, Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1969 he played a ski coach in Downhill Racer, and an astronaut in Marooned.

In 1970, he was nominated for the same award, this time for I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. The next year he won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as New York City police officer Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, marking his graduation to leading man status. 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. That same year, Hackman appeared uncredited in one of his most famous comedic roles as the blind hermit in Young Frankenstein. He later appeared in the star-studded war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), and showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1980).

By the end of the 1980s, Hackman was a well respected actor and alternated between leading and supporting roles, earning another Best Actor nomination for Mississippi Burning, and appearing in such films as Reds, Under Fire, Hoosiers, Power, Uncommon Valor and Bat*21. His performance as a rural Indiana high school basketball coach in the period drama Hoosiers is considered by some to be particularly memorable.

In 1990, the actor underwent heart surgery, 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 itself won Best Picture.

In 1995, Hackman played other noteworthy villains, fast-draw champion John Herod in The Quick and the Dead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and 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.

Hackman starred in the David Mamet crime film Heist as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job. He also had leading roles in the ensemble cast films The Royal Tenenbaums and Runaway Jury.

In 2003, at the Golden Globe Awards, Hackman was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."

Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman has written three novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), Justice for None (2004), and Escape from Andersonville (2008).

On July 7, 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which he announced that he had no future film projects lined up, and believes his acting career is over. In 2008, while promoting his third novel, Hackman confirmed that he has retired from acting. His final film to date was Welcome to Mooseport, a comedy with Ray Romano in which Hackman portrayed a former President of the United States.

Hackman's first wife was Faye Maltese. They had three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne, but the couple divorced in 1986 after 30 years of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Betsy is co-owner of an upscale retail home-furnishing store in Santa Fe, called Pandora's, Inc.

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1961	Mad Dog Coll	Policeman	uncredited
1964	Lilith	Norman
1966	Hawaii	Dr. John Whipple
1967	Banning	Tommy Del Gaddo
	Community Shelter Planning	Donald Ross - Regional Civil Defense Officer
	A Covenant with Death	Harmsworth
	First to Fight	Sgt. Tweed
	Bonnie & Clyde	Buck Barrow	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1968	The Split	Detective Lt. Walter Brill
1969	Riot	Red Fraker
	The Gypsy Moths	Joe Browdy
	Downhill Racer	Eugene Claire
	Marooned	Buzz Lloyd
1970	I Never Sang for My Father	Gene Garrison	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1971	Doctors' Wives	Dr. Dave Randolph
	The Hunting Party	Brandt Ruger
	The French Connection	Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	Academy Award for Best Actor; BAFTA Award; Golden Globe
1972	Prime Cut	Mary Ann
	The Poseidon Adventure	Reverend Frank Scott
	Cisco Pike	Sergeant Leo Holland
1973	Scarecrow	Max Millan
1974	The Conversation	Harry Caul	Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
	Young Frankenstein	The Blindman (Harold)
	Zandy's Bride	Zandy Allan
1975	French Connection II	Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
	Lucky Lady	Kibby Womack
	Night Moves	Harry Moseby
	Bite the Bullet	Sam Clayton
1977	The Domino Principle	Roy Tucker
	A Bridge Too Far	Maj Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski
	March or Die	Maj. William Sherman Foster
1978	Superman	Lex Luthor	Nominated - BAFTA Award
1980	Superman II	Lex Luthor
1981	All Night Long	George Dupler
	Reds	Pete Van Wherry
1983	Under Fire	Alex Grazier	Nominated - Golden Globe
	Two of a Kind	Voice of God	uncredited
	Uncommon Valor	Col. Cal Rhodes
1984	Eureka	Jack McCann
	Misunderstood	Ned Rawley
1985	Twice in a Lifetime	Harry MacKenzie	Nominated - Golden Globe
	Target	Walter Lloyd/Duncan (Duke) Potter
1986	Power	Wilfred Buckley
	Hoosiers	Coach Norman Dale
1987	No Way Out	Defense Secretary David Brice
	Superman IV: The Quest for Peace	Lex Luthor / voice of Nuclear Man
1988	Bat*21	Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton
	Mississippi Burning	Agent Rupert Anderson	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor; Nominated - Golden Globe
	Another Woman	Larry Lewis
	Full Moon in Blue Water	Floyd
	Split Decisions	Dan McGuinn
1989	The Package	Sgt. Johnny Gallagher
1990	Loose Cannons	MacArthur Stern
	Postcards from the Edge	Lowell Kolchek
	Narrow Margin	Robert Caulfield
1991	Class Action	Jedediah Tucker Ward
	Company Business	Sam Boyd
1992	Unforgiven	Little Bill Daggett	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; BAFTA Award; Golden Globe
1993	The Firm	Avery Tolar
	Geronimo: An American Legend	Brig. Gen. George Crook
1994	Wyatt Earp	Nicholas Earp
1995	The Quick and the Dead	John Herod
	Crimson Tide	Capt. Frank Ramsey
	Get Shorty	Harry Zimm
1996	The Birdcage	Senator Kevin Keeley
	Extreme Measures	Dr. Lawrence Myrick
	The Chamber	Sam Cayhall
1997	Absolute Power	President Allen Richmond
1998	Twilight	Jack Ames
	Enemy of the State	Brill
	Antz	General Mandible
2000	Under Suspicion	Henry Hearst
	The Replacements	Jimmy McGinty
2001	Heartbreakers	William B. Tensy
	Heist	Joe Moore
	The Mexican	Arnold Margolese (uncredited)
	The Royal Tenenbaums	Royal Tenenbaum	Golden Globe
	Behind Enemy Lines	Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart
2003	Runaway Jury	Rankin Fitch
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Monroe Cole
2006	Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut	Lex Luthor