Gene Hackman, aged 95, has passed.
At the time of this post, the circumstances of his passing are still not completely reported. His wife, only 64, and the family dog, were also found dead. No foul play is suspected, but it's clearly a tragedy in the unfolding.
Hackman is one of the first actors I remember, as my dad took me to see Superman: The Movie in the theater during the film's initial release. The movie I first recall really liking him in - for one does not *like* Lex Luthor - was Hoosiers, the movie about corn-fed high school basketball players. After that, it's a blur. Hackman was omnipresent and in every fifth movie that was released for a stretch of about 20 years. I wouldn't see The French Connection or The Conversation until college.
He was always the unlikeliest of faces to make it to star status, but his talent and charisma were undeniable. Seeing Hackman was in a movie meant it was going to be better than most, and sometimes if the movie wasn't otherwise up to the task, he just chose to carry a movie all by himself.
As a person of a certain age, watching him for me is book ended by Lex Luthor and as Royal Tenenbaum, maybe one of the finest roles ever put to film.
When he retired, it was a bit odd. He was just... gone. I remember my fellow Gen-X'ers online wondering "where the hell is Gene Hackman?" around 2007 or so, and we learned he'd just quit taking new work. The man earned his retirement, and we forget that actors are allowed to hang it up and go enjoy life.
We'll get more details about what happened at his house.
We'll miss you, Gene, and I'm sorry for whatever happened. But you more than earned your retirement and now your rest.
