Gene Hackman - Biography - IMDb Gene Hackman Biography Showing all 108 items Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (72) | Personal Quotes (24) | Salary (4) Overview (3) 6' 1" (1.85 m) Mini Bio (1) Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Anna Lyda Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After several moves, his family settled in Danville, Illinois. Gene grew up in a broken home, which he left at the age of sixteen for a hitch with the US Marines. Moving to New York after being discharged, he worked in a number of menial jobs before studying journalism and television production on the G.I. Bill at the University of Illinois. Hackman would be over 30 years old when he finally decided to take his chance at acting by enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Legend says that Hackman and friend Dustin Hoffman were voted "least likely to succeed." Hackman next moved back to New York, where he worked in summer stock and off-Broadway. In 1964 he was cast as the young suitor in the Broadway play "Any Wednesday." This role would lead to him being cast in the small role of Norman in Lilith (1964), starring Warren Beatty . When Beatty was casting for Bonnie and Clyde (1967), he cast Hackman as Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow 's brother. That role earned Hackman a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, an award for which he would again be nominated in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). In 1972 he won the Oscar for his role as Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971). At 40 years old Hackman was a Hollywood star whose work would rise to new heights with Night Moves (1975) and Bite the Bullet (1975), or fall to new depths with The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Eureka (1983).

Hackman is a versatile actor who can play comedy (the blind man in Young Frankenstein (1974)) or villainy (the evil Lex Luthor in Superman (1978)). He is the doctor who puts his work above people in Extreme Measures (1996) and the captain on the edge of nuclear destruction in Crimson Tide (1995). After initially turning down the role of Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven (1992), Hackman finally accepted it, as its different slant on the western interested him. For his performance he won the Oscar and Golden Globe and decided that he wasn't tired of westerns after all. He has since appeared in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), and The Quick and the Dead (1995). ( 1 January 1956 - 1986) (divorced) (3 children) Trade Mark (2) Prefers to come to a role with minimal rehearsal Trivia (72) Was the first choice to play Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch (1969).

He was the sixth choice to play Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971). He lied about his age to join the Marines at 16, but left as soon as his initial tour was complete. While at the Pasadena Playhouse, Hackman and a classmate were voted "Least likely to succeed". The classmate was Dustin Hoffman . Was the first choice to play Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Turned down the part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Pearl Harbor (2001), which went to Jon Voight . Jailed as a teen (c. 1946) for stealing candy & soda pop from a candy store. One of the most sustaining actors of all time, he still averaged two films a year in his 70s, having starred in six in 2001 alone. This all changed however in 2004, when he last acted in Welcome to Mooseport (2004). He has not appeared in anything since. Has stated that his performance in Scarecrow (1973) is his personal favorite.

Revealed on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) that two of the most important factors in deciding on which films he will work on are the script and the money. 2001: Was involved in a road-rage incident when two young men attacked him for hitting their car in Hollywood. Father of Christopher Hackman . He also has 2 daughters named Leslie Hackman and Elizabeth Hackman. Has appeared in three films adapted from novels by John Grisham : The Firm (1993), The Chamber (1996) and Runaway Jury (2003). Based his role, in The Conversation (1974), on one of his uncles and a fellow Marine he had known well. He characterized the Marine as someone "who probably became a serial killer". Dustin Hoffman came to New York after finishing his training at the Pasadena Playhouse. The two of them roomed together in New York at Hackman's one-bedroom apartment on 2nd Ave. & 26th St. Hoffman slept on the kitchen floor. Originally, Hackman had offered to let him stay a few nights, but Hoffman would not leave. Hackman had to take him out to look for his own apartment.

As roommates, Dustin Hoffman and Hackman would often go to the apartment rooftop and play the drums. Hoffman played the bongo drums while Hackman played the conga drums. They did it out of their love for Marlon Brando , who they had heard played music in clubs. They wanted to be like Brando and were big fans of his. Dustin Hoffman asked for the part of Rankin Fitch in Runaway Jury (2003), which had gone to Hackman. Hoffman admits to asking, "Can't you get rid of Gene and give me the part?". Runaway Jury (2003) was the first time he and former roommate Dustin Hoffman performed on the screen together. Met actor Dustin Hoffman in the first month at Pasadena Playhouse. Had several classes with him. Was admitted into the famed Pasadena Playhouse on the G.I. Bill. He failed out of it after 3 months and moved to New York to continue being a stage actor. Received 1 of the lowest grades the school had ever given (1.3 out of 10). He headed to New York with the intention of proving them wrong.

Was the subject of the song "Gene Hackman" by Hoodoo Gurus . Turned down the lead roles in Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). 7/7/04: Appeared on Larry King Live (1985). Larry King was surprised to find out that Hackman had no movies lined up, and Hackman replied by saying that he thinks it is the end of his career. Says watching his own films makes him terribly nervous. Reportedly turned down the role of Randall Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Reportedly turned down one of the lead roles in Network (1976). After he played Little Bill in Unforgiven (1992), Hackman vowed not to appear in any more violent films. After he had been in violent films dating back to Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The French Connection (1971) (in a role refused by Peter Boyle for the same reasons), he said he was fed up with them.

Along with Margot Kidder , Hackman was appalled at the way Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind , the producers of the first three Superman films and 1984's Supergirl (1984) film, had treated director Richard Donner , who had directed the first Superman (1978) and most of the second Superman film back-to-back before he was fired by the Salkinds over creative differences. Hackman, who said he only did the first two movies because of Donner's persuasion, was so angry with the Salkinds that he vehemently refused to reprise the role of Lex Luthor in Superman III (1983), while Margot Kidder , who played Lois Lane, only appeared in a cameo role. Hackman was later persuaded to reprise the Luthor role in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Enjoys painting and writing fiction. Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

As a young man, Hackman attended a showing of the movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and was impressed by the performance of Marlon Brando due to his naturalism and the fact that he didn't look like what a movie star typically looked like in the 1950s. After exiting the theater, he told his father that he wanted to be an actor. Even though he is no longer a cigarette smoker, Hackman played the role of a chain-smoker in Heartbreakers (2001). He was using a special kind of cigarette that only produces heavy smoke without requiring any inhaling. Ironically and tragically, in 1962, Hackman's mother Lydia died of injuries incurred from a fire caused by her own smoking. Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) because he was in a troubled marriage and could not spend 16 weeks outside of Los Angeles on location shooting. In a 2004 Vanity Fair story on him, Dustin Hoffman , and Robert Duvall , Hackman said one of the worst memories of being a struggling actor, was working as a doorman in New York City.

He recalled having seen former Marine officers pass him by when opening the door for them, of which one had said "Hackman, you're a sorry son of a bitch." While a struggling actor in New York City, he worked as a soda jerk in a pharmacy and as a furniture mover. But told Time Magazine in 2011 that "worst job I ever had" was working nights at the legendary Chrysler Building--as part of a crew that polished the leather furniture. After flunking out of the Pasadena Playhouse and moving to New York City with fellow drop-out Dustin Hoffman , Hackman worked at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Times Square as a doorman. One day, a Pasadena Playhouse acting teacher whom Hackman hated walked by him, stopped, and told him that he had been right, that Hackman would never amount to anything. In Robert Osborne 's "Academy Awards 1972 Oscar Annual", Hackman is quoted as saying Errol Flynn was his boyhood idol. Says a poster of Flynn is one of the only movie mementos he has in his otherwise very "civilian" Santa Fe home.

1990: Underwent successful angioplasty surgery after nearly suffering a severe heart attack. Is one of only a few actors to win an Oscar for a supporting role after winning an Oscar for a leading role. (Others to do so are Jack Nicholson , Maggie Smith and Helen Hayes ). In the Superman movies, he didn't like the idea of going bald for his role as Lex Luthor. He was allowed to wear wigs instead, and was convinced to wear a bald cap in only a few scenes. Has played three fictional Presidents: he plays President Alan Richmand in Absolute Power (1997). His Superman (1978) character, Lex Luthor, became President of the United States in the year 2000, in the DC Comics. He also played President Monroe "Eagle" Cole in Welcome to Mooseport (2004). Hackman replaced George Segal in the role of Kibby in the notorious flop Lucky Lady (1975). Possibly anticipating that the film would be a turkey, Segal bailed out of the production and Hackman was brought in at the last-minute.

The desperate producers paid Hackman - riding high from the huge box office success of The Poseidon Adventure (1972)--a reported $1.2 million for his role, $500,000 more than Segal's going rate. Hackman knew co-star Burt Reynolds from starring in the first episode of Burt's short-lived 1966 TV series Hawk (1966). His performance as Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974) is ranked #37 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Hackman has said that the failure of Scarecrow (1973) turned him off of art films due to the disappointment of working hard on a film that was critically acclaimed, but that tanked at the box office and failed to garner any awards. After this flop, Hackman mainly concentrated on acting for money, turning down such films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Network (1976) for roles in films like March or Die (1977) and Lucky Lady (1975) that offered him fatter paychecks.

Appeared on Richard Nixon 's infamous "List of Enemies" during the 1972 presidential election, the only time Hackman was publicly involved in politics. During an interview on Larry King Live (1985) in July 2004, Hackman stated that although he is a Democrat, he liked President Ronald Reagan , who had died the previous month. Before he decided to become an actor, he worked numerous jobs including announcing at small radio and TV stations. Studied journalism and TV production at the University of Illinois, where he was voted "Least Likely to Succeed.". Was a Dallas Cowboys fan but now regularly attends Jacksonville Jaguars games as a guest of his friend, head coach Jack Del Rio . In contrast with his on-screen image of tough guy and reactionary, in real life Hackman is said to be an extremely gentle, shy person who holds very progressive political views. Turned down the role of Sheriff Teasle in First Blood (1982). Friends with Kris Kristofferson since Cisco Pike (1972). Turned down the leading role in Sorcerer (1977) that went to Roy Scheider , Hackman's co-star in The French Connection (1971).

Both Hackman and his former roommate, Dustin Hoffman , had their big breaks in 1967, Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Hoffman in The Graduate (1967). Distantly related to Jenni Blong . Released his novel, a violent Western, "Payback at Morning Peak" in June, 2011. In the late 1970s, he competed in Sports Car Club of America races driving open-wheeled Formula Ford. In 1983, he drove in a 24-hour Daytona endurance race. He has also won the Long Beach Grand Prix Celebrity Race. Is one of only four actors to win two Oscars for films that also won Best Picture (the others being Marlon Brando , Jack Nicholson , and Dustin Hoffman ). Did not start acting until he was 25. Release of his book, "Wake of the Perdido Star", by Gene with Daniel Lenihan . [1999] He is the voice on the commercials for the Lowe's home center store chain, and has been for the past couple of years.

[June 2007] Release of his book, "Justice For None", by Gene with Daniel Lenihan . [2004] Announces his retirement from acting at the age of 78. [April 2008] Release of his book, "Escape From Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War", by Gene with Daniel Lenihan . [2008] Has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The French Connection (1971), The Conversation (1974), Reds (1981), Mississippi Burning (1988) and Unforgiven (1992). The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992) won in the category and rewarded Hackman for his acting efforts twice. He appeared in four films with John Ratzenberger : A Bridge Too Far (1977), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980) and Reds (1981).

He was initially reluctant to take the role of Lex Luthor in ''Superman: The Movie (1978)'' as he didn't want to shave off a mustache he had recently grown. Richard Donner made a deal with him that if he shaved it off, Donner would shave off his as well. After Hackman did so, Donner revealed that the mustache he was wearing was a fake. This made Hackman instantly respect and like Donner immensely. Got the role in Crimson Tide after Al Pacino turned it down. When asked about friendship in an interview, Robert Duvall replied: "A friend is someone who, many years ago, offered you his last $300 when you broke your pelvis. A friend is Gene Hackman.". Personal Quotes (24) I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press. [on aging] It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on-screen. I think of myself, and feel like I'm quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.

[ Dustin Hoffman on him and Hackman as young stage actors and roommates in New York] Psychologically, Gene/myself, we did not think about making it in the terms that people think about. We fully expected to be failures for our entire life. Meaning that we would always be scrambling to get a part. We were actors. We had no pretensions. There was more dignity in being unsuccessful. [on accepting his Best Actor Oscar] I wish all five of us could be up here, I really do. If I start to become a "star", I'll lose contact with the normal guys I play best. I came to New York when I was 25, and I worked at Howard Johnson's in Times Square, where I did the door in this completely silly uniform. Before that, I had been a student at the Pasadena Playhouse, where I had been awarded the least-likely-to-succeed prize, along with my pal Dustin Hoffman , which was a big reason we set off for New York together.

Out of nowhere, this teacher I totally despised at the Pasadena Playhouse suddenly walked by HoJo's and came right up into my face and shouted, "See, Hackman, I told you that you would never amount to anything!" I felt one inch tall. [on seeing Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and becoming determined to be an actor] He made it seem something natural. I wanted to act, but I'd always been convinced that actors had to be handsome. That came from the days when Errol Flynn was my idol. I'd come out of a theater and be startled when I looked in a mirror because I didn't look like Flynn. I felt like him. I suppose I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about 10, maybe even younger than that. Recollections of early movies that I had seen and actors that I admired like James Cagney , Errol Flynn , those kind of romantic action guys. When I saw those actors, I felt I could do that. But I was in New York for about eight years before I had a job. I sold ladies shoes, polished leather furniture, drove a truck.

I think that if you have it in you and you want it bad enough, you can do it. The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways. Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors. People in the street still call me Popeye, and The French Connection (1971) was 15 years ago. I wish I could have a new hit and another nickname. When you're on top, you get a sense of immortality. You feel you can do no wrong, that it will always be good no matter what the role. Well, in truth, that feeling is death. You must be honest with yourself. I haven't held a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I'm not going to act any longer. I've been told not to say that over the last few years, in case some real wonderful part comes up, but I really don't want to do it any longer ... I miss the actual acting part of it, as it's what I did for almost fifty years, and I really loved that. But the business for me is very stressful.

The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast, and it had gotten to a point where I just didn't feel like I wanted to do it anymore. [In a 2011 GQ interview, when asked if he would ever come out of retirement and make another film] I don't know. If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people. [on making The French Connection (1971)] I found out very quickly that I am not a violent person. And these cops are surrounded by violence all the time. There were a couple of days when I wanted to get out of the picture. (2011, on how he'd like to be remembered) As a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what was given to them in an honest fashion. I don't know, beyond that. I don't think about that often, to be honest. I'm at an age where I should think about it. (2011, on where he keeps his Oscars) You know, I'm not sure; I don't have any memorabilia around the house.

There isn't any movie stuff except a poster downstairs next to the pool table of Errol Flynn from The Dawn Patrol (1938). I'm not a sentimental guy. (2011, on Hoosiers (1986)) I took the film at a time that I was desperate for money. I took it for all the wrong reasons, and it turned out to be one of those films that stick around. I was from that area of the country and knew of that event, strangely enough. We filmed fifty miles from where I was brought up. So it was a bizarre feeling. I never expected the film to have the kind of legs it's had. I'm disappointed that success hasn't been a Himalayan feeling. [on whether he will ever come out of retirement and act again] Only in reruns. Yeah, that's it. I'm at a place where I feel very good about not having to work all night. [on writing novels] With me it takes quite a long time, at least a year maybe a little more by the time I go through two or three edits, professional edits, but it's still fun because it's always a challenge.

Our dreams are usually limited by some kind of reality check and because a guy thinks because he can pluck a guitar a couple of strokes he thinks he's going to be Elvis Presley or whoever. [beginning his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, when he won Best Supporting Actor for Unforgiven (1992) thinking he wouldn't win] Heck, I've just lost a hundred bucks. Salary (4) 1971 Academy Awards® Winners and History Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) Actor: GENE HACKMAN in "The French Connection" , Peter Finch in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", Walter Matthau in "Kotch", George C. Scott in "The Hospital", Topol in "Fiddler on the Roof" Actress: JANE FONDA in "Klute", Julie Christie in "McCabe & Mrs.

Miller", Glenda Jackson in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", Vanessa Redgrave in "Mary, Queen of Scots", Janet Suzman in "Nicholas and Alexandra" Supporting Actor: BEN JOHNSON in "The Last Picture Show" , Jeff Bridges in "The Last Picture Show" , Leonard Frey in "Fiddler on the Roof", Richard Jaeckel in "Sometimes a Great Notion", Roy Scheider in "The French Connection" Supporting Actress: CLORIS LEACHMAN in "The Last Picture Show" , Ann-Margret in "Carnal Knowledge", Ellen Burstyn in "The Last Picture Show" , Barbara Harris in "Who is Harry Kellerman, and Why is He Saying These Terrible Things About Me?", Margaret Leighton in "The Go-Between" Director: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN for "The French Connection" , Peter Bogdanovich for "The Last Picture Show" , Norman Jewison for "Fiddler on the Roof", Stanley Kubrick for "A Clockwork Orange" , John Schlesinger for "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" 'Old' and 'New' Hollywood clashed with two biggest rivals in the Best Picture competition: director Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof

 (with eight nominations and three wins - Best Cinematography (Oswald Morris), Best Sound, and Best Scoring (this was the first of numerous Oscar wins for film composer John Williams) - the lavish film adaptation of the long-running, hit Broadway musical was based on the Yiddish stories of Tevye the Dairyman, written by Sholem Aleichem the other was the year's innovative Best Picture victor - The French Connection (with eight nominations and five wins), a semi-documentary film and exciting cops and drug dealers action thriller, based on two real-life New York narcotics squad officers (detectives Eddie 'Popeye' Egan and Sonny Grosso, portrayed by Hackman and Scheider), who seized a 120 lb., multi-million dollar shipment of smuggled heroin (from Marseilles to NYC) in 1961 in a transported car.

The winning film had more wins than any other picture of the year: Best Picture, Best Director (young 32 year old William Friedkin), Best Actor, Best Screenplay Adaptation (Ernest Tidyman), and Best Editing (Jerry Greenberg) for the memorable, nerve-wracking, edge-of-your-seat auto chase pursuit sequence through New York's busy city streets). Following In the Heat of the Night (1967) , it was only the second Best Picture in Academy history to showcase a police officer as its central character. And it was the first R-rated film to win Best Picture since the institution of the MPAA rating system.

The other three Best Picture nominees also displayed the rift between traditional and edgy pictures were: Stanley Kubrick's stylized, provocatively-brilliant but ultra-violent black comedy A Clockwork Orange (with four nominations and no wins) set in Britain's near future - the originally X-rated adaptation of Anthony Burgess' controversial novel [the only other X-rated Best Picture nominee was Midnight Cowboy (1969) ] the overlong costume drama of the lives of the last Czar of Russia Nicholas and his wife and family in Nicholas and Alexandra (with six nominations and two wins - Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costume Design) - its director Franklin J.

Schaffner was NOT nominated as Best Director emerging director Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (with eight nominations and two wins - Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress), the excellent black and white film adaptation of Larry McMurtry's coming of age novel about the loss of innocence and a boy's rites of passage in a small, 1950s Texas town that is about to close its cinema The Best Director award was presented to William Friedkin (with his first nomination and win) for his first major feature The French Connection - a tough, suspenseful crime film that preceded the similar cop film Dirty Harry by a few months. Although his film was not nominated for Best Picture, British director John Schlesinger was nominated as Best Director for his dramatic, sexually-oriented adult drama Sunday, Bloody Sunday (with four nominations and no wins) about an unusual menage a trois between a homosexual, a heterosexual woman, and a bi-sexual artist (the object of the other two's desire). And Peter Bogdanovich was nominated for his deft direction of the episodic story The Last Picture Show (his second feature) - it was probably his finest directorial effort throughout his entire career.

Norman Jewison was nominated for his effort in bringing the musical Fiddler on the Roof from Broadway to the screen, and master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's graphic, sci-fi cult film A Clockwork Orange was dazzlingly unsettling - but unforgettable. Gene Hackman (with his third career nomination) won the coveted Best Actor award (his first Oscar) for his star-making role as obsessed, foul-mouthed, violent, short-tempered, bigoted, hard-nosed, dedicated, and world-weary undercover narcotics cop Jimmy Doyle (alias 'Popeye'). [Hackman had been twice-nominated in the past as Best Supporting Actor (for Bonnie And Clyde (1967) and the previous year for I Never Sang For My Father (1970)).] Other Best Actor nominees included: Brit-born Peter Finch (with the first of two career nominations - he won Best Actor for Network (1976) ) as Dr. Daniel Hirsh - a middle-aged, homosexual doctor involved in a three-sided love story in the British film Sunday, Bloody Sunday George C. Scott (with his fourth career nomination) as Dr.

Herbert Bock - an embittered chief surgeon in a New York medical center in the black comedy and expose The Hospital (with two nominations and one win - Best Screenplay) with Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning screenplay Topol (with his sole career nomination) as Teyve - the proud Jewish father and zesty, likeable milkman who clings to the old ways in Fiddler on the Roof Walter Matthau (with his second of three career nominations - he previously won Best Supporting Actor for The Fortune Cookie (1966)) as Joseph P. Kotcher - a feisty senior citizen in Kotch (with four nominations and no wins) - Jack Lemmon's sole directorial effort and debut film. Anti-Vietnam War activist Jane Fonda (with her second career nomination and first Oscar win) won the Best Actress award for her performance not as Klute (that was the name of the private detective played by Donald Sutherland who hunts down a deviant killer) but as Bree Daniels, a classy, highly-paid, cynical, sexually-disturbed and threatened call-girl stalking victim in Alan Pakula's stylized 70s film noir Klute.

Jane Fonda was the first of the famous Fonda movie family to win an Oscar! Fonda, the only American actress in the race, defeated fellow nominees, all foreign-born competitors, including: Julie Christie (with her second career nomination following her Best Actress win for Darling (1965)) as Mrs. Constance Miller - an opium-smoking brothel madam and chief prostitute in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (the film's sole nomination) - Robert Altman's bleak, deglamourized western set at the turn-of-the-century Northwest Glenda Jackson (with her second consecutive nomination after a win in the previous year) as Alex Greville - a heterosexual divorced woman involved in a complicated set of relationships in Sunday, Bloody Sunday Vanessa Redgrave (with her third of six career nominations) in the title role as the headstrong Catholic queen in director Charles Jarrott's Mary, Queen of Scots (with five nominations and no wins) Janet Suzman (with her sole career nomination) as the Russian Czar's wife - Empress Alexandra in director Franklin J.

Schaffner's Nicholas and Alexandra (with six nominations and two wins - Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costume Design) There were a total of four nominees (two were victors) in the supporting acting categories from Bogdanovich's film The Last Picture Show : Ben Johnson (with his sole career nomination and sole Oscar win) who was a former rodeo star and veteran Western actor from director/mentor John Ford's stock company, won the Best Supporting Actor award as ex-cowboy Sam the Lion, the philosophical owner of the decrepit movie theater/cafe/pool hall in the bleak, declining 50s northwestern (fictional) Texas town of Anarene Cloris Leachman (with her sole career nomination and sole Oscar win) won the Best Supporting Actress award as Ruth Popper - the lonely and neglected, sexually-deprived, aging wife of the football-basketball coach who beds high school senior Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) Jeff Bridges (with his first career nomination) as Sonny's friend Duane Jackson Ellen Burstyn (with her first of six career nominations - her only supporting nomination) as Lois Farrow, the mother of Duane's spoiled and rich girlfriend Jacy (Cybill Shepherd) The other nominees in

 the Supporting Actor category included: Roy Scheider (with his first of two unsuccessful career nominations) as Buddy Russo - Hackman's New York detective partner in The French Connection Leonard Frey (with his sole nomination) as Motel the tailor who is seeking a wife in Fiddler on the Roof Richard Jaeckel (with his sole nomination) as Joe Ben Stamper (Paul Newman's brother) who is pinned in the water by a fallen tree in director/star Paul Newman's film of Ken Kesey's novel, Sometimes a Great Notion (with two nominations and no wins) The remaining nominees in the Supporting Actress category included: Margaret Leighton (with her sole nomination) as Mrs.

Maudsley (Julie Christie's mother) who disapproves of the surreptitious tryst in Joseph Losey's The Go-Between (the film's sole nomination) one-time sex symbol Ann-Margret (with her first of two unsuccessful career nominations) in a serious actress role as sexy, vulnerable, contemptible mistress Bobbie (Jack Nicholson's companion) in Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (the film's sole nomination) Barbara Harris (with her sole nomination) as Allison - an aspiring singer (co-star Dustin Hoffman's girlfriend) in Who is Harry Kellerman, and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? [The film has the remarkable distinction of having the longest title of any nominated film in Academy history.] Best Song award winner Isaac Hayes, for Shaft, was the first African-American to win in that category. 82 year-old legend Charles Chaplin, with his trademark hat and cane, received an Honorary Oscar, after an over 20-year, self-imposed exile in Europe (Switzerland). It was awarded for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century." He received a record 12-minute long standing ovation.

In his entire career, he had only received six Academy Award nominations: Best Actor and Best Director (Comedy) for The Circus (1927/8), Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for The Great Dictator (1940), Best Original Screenplay for Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and his only win, Best Score for Limelight (1972). His best films in the sound era were neglected: Modern Times (1936) . Oscar Snubs and Omissions: Other equally-impressive films not nominated for Best Picture included director John Schlesinger's Sunday, Bloody Sunday, director Alan J. Pakula's crime thriller Klute, and director Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as John McCabe and Constance Miller respectively. At least three films were completely devoid of nominations: director Don Siegel's Dirty Harry with Clint Eastwood as the definitive vigilante cop Harry Callahan, Roman Polanski's Macbeth, and Nicolas Roeg's provocative drama Walkabout with Jenny Agutter as the coming-of-age 'Girl' in the Australian outback.

In her own self-directed tale, A New Leaf, about a near-sighted heiress pursued by a gold-digging Walter Matthau, Elaine May was denied an acting nomination. Malcolm McDowell, the brilliant main character, juvenile delinquent, Beethoven-loving, aversion-therapy patient Alex in Kubrick's ultra-violent A Clockwork Orange was not nominated, nor was Jack Nicholson for his role as misogynistic Jonathan in director Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (with only one unsuccessful nomination), nor was Jessica Walter as psychopathic fan Evelyn Draper in director/actor Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me (without any nominations), nor was Ruth Gordon as free-spirited, eccentric, death-obsessed 79 year-old Maude in director Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude. Cybill Shepherd was denied a nominated as the flirtatious Jacy in The Last Picture Show , as was Susan George as Dustin Hoffman's conflicted wife in Straw Dogs.

Best Actor: Best Actor 1971: Gene Hackman in The French Connection Saturday, 2 April 2011 Best Actor 1971: Gene Hackman in The French Connection Gene Hackman won his first Oscar from his third nomination for portraying Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection. The French Connection tells the story of a plan to transfer heroine from France to the United States, and the method in which the police found and unraveled the plot. There are certian types of performances, that certainly can be written off quickly, because perhaps there are not constant dramatic scenes involved in their performances, a performance like this is by Gene Hackman's in the French Connection. A performance like his should not be written off as a lacking or unspectacular because it is not filled with scenes which main purpose is to simple allow him to dramatically act out a scene. Gene Hackman's performance here I find is quite strong as the tough, loud, narcotics detective "Popeye" Doyle. I find part of what is so strong about his performances is that it does not have scenes that are there to develop his character, yet I find his character is incredibly well developed nonetheless.

Hackman develops Popeye as the film the proceeds rather doing it in specific scenes just for that. Hackman manages to do it well the plot proceeds forward through the film, and quite well, because I felt I found out a lot about Popeye from his time in the film. Hackman portrays Doyle's tough complete command of the street particularly well. Now I think this is something that is generally not given enough credit. Being tough, and really being street smart is something is not really as easy as some might think, and to seem really authentically a cop like Popeye is an achievement. Hackman does this quite well, and I particularly find him strong in this aspect when ever he is dealing with a suspect. His dominance over them is appropriately controlling, commanding, and most of all realistic. Also something else I think Hackman really does well is give charming memorable performance that one can easily follow through the complex story of finding the crime. He is simply a charming strong presence that permeates throughout the film quite well. Due to Hackman I could easily follow along with him to the end of the crime, and more thoroughly feel the set backs and the successes of the investigation.

The strongest part of his performance though perhaps is the incredible drive he shows in Popeye. Perhaps an insane, obsessive drive to get what he wants. I really like Hackman whole process through Popeye's obsession from the start of the crime to its end. From the beginning where he obsessively searches for suspects although interestingly in a casual fashion. The obsession grows in Hackman's performance quite well. He pretty subtly shows it through earnestness for awhile until near the end of the film where it is sparked the most. When his full on obsession comes out Hackman becomes quite chilling in the role, showing the full extent of Popeye's uncontrolled need for closure and control of the case. Overall Hackman gives a performance I enjoy very much, an interesting, effective and most of all memorable performance. Posted by Rent Gene Hackman Movies on DVD and Blu-ray - DVD Netflix Thrillers Gene Hackman A commanding screen presence for decades, Gene Hackman was born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernadino, Calif. The Marine veteran studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and then pursued his craft on the New York stage.

A bit part in Mad Dog Coll (1961) was followed three years later with a speaking role in Lilith. That film's star, Warren Beatty, remembered Hackman and cast him as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), resulting in his first Oscar nomination. He won the Best Actor trophy as brutal cop Popeye Doyle (a character he despised) in The French Connection (1971). A frequent co-star with Beatty and Clint Eastwood, Hackman won his second Oscar as sheriff Little Bill in Unforgiven (1992). The Conversation, Superman and Mississippi Burning are other key Hackman films. His later appearances include 2003's Runaway Jury (with one-time roommate Dustin Hoffman). BIOGRAPHY: Gene Hackman Lifetime twitter BIOGRAPHY Born Eugene Allen Hackman in San Bernardino, California, Gene’s mother was called Lyda, and his father was Eugene Ezra Hackman. He has one brother called Richard. Hackman was born during the Great Depression years when work and money were both scarce.

His family moved from town to town a great deal, finally settling in Danville, Illinois, when Hackman's father found work as a printing operative at the local newspaper. The family moved in with Hackman’s maternal grandmother, Beatrice. Eugene and Lyda divorced in 1943, when Hackman was 13 years-old. Three years later, he decided to enlist with the Marine Corps. He served three years as a marine, during which time he worked as a field radio operator. It was around this time that he caught the acting bug. As a child, he’d been inspired by movie stars like James Cagney and Errol Flynn. But, in 1951, he attended a showing of the film 'A Streetcar Named Desire' with his father, and was so impressed with lead actor Marlon Brando’s performance that as he was leaving the cinema after the movie, he told his father that he wanted to become an actor. "Psychologically, Gene and myself did not think about making it in the terms that people think about.

We fully expected to be failures for our entire life." - Dustin Hoffman After completing his military service, Hackman headed off for New York, where he worked in a wide range of menial, low-paid jobs before deciding to move back to Illinois to study TV production and journalism. At the age of 30, Hackman moved back to California, where he joined the Pasadena Playhouse in order to train as an actor, thanks to the student funding that was made available through the G.I. Bill. Hackman didn’t do particularly well at the Playhouse, though, and flunked out of his course after just three months of study. Whilst at the Playhouse, however, he became friends and later room-mates with another aspiring actor called Dustin Hoffman. Interestingly, the two budding actors, who were both destined to become Academy Award winners in years to come, were both voted “least likely to succeed” by their class-mates. Piqued and infuriated by the put-downs he'd received whilst studying at the Playhouse, Hackman returned to New York to pursue his dreams of acting, closely followed by his friend Dustin Hoffman, and another young actor called Robert Duvall.

The threesome found it a struggle to survive in the Big Apple whilst waiting for their “big break”; at one stage, Hackman was working as a hotel doorman when one of his instructors from the Playhouse walked past. “There, I told you that you wouldn’t make it!” jeered the instructor. Happily, Hackman went on to prove him wrong. Room-mates Hoffman and Hackman would often go to the rooftop of their New York apartment building and play the drums: Hackman played the conga drums and Hoffman played the bongo drums. They played music as a kind of homage to their mutual idol Marlon Brando, who they’d heard played music in clubs. Amusingly, Dustin Hoffman has said about this period, “Psychologically, Gene and myself did not think about making it in the terms that people think about. We fully expected to be failures for our entire life. Meaning that we would always be scrambling to get a part.” Hackman gained his first experience of acting in several off-Broadway plays until finally, in 1964, he was offered the opportunity to co-star in a play called 'Any Wednesday', alongside actress Sandy Dennis.

This role turned out to Hackman’s passport to Hollywood, and was soon followed by offers of film acting roles. Hackman’s first movie acting role was a small part playing a character called Norman in the movie 'Lilith', starring Warren Beatty, made in 1964. But he didn’t really begin to hit the big time until he took the part of Buck Barrow in 'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He received a second nomination for the same award three years later, for his part in 'I Never Sang For My Father', which starred Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. Hackman finally succeeded in winning an Oscar - this time for Best Actor - for his stunning performance as Popeye Doyle in the blockbuster movie, 'The French Connection' (1971). Critics and film buffs alike consider this to be one of Hackman’s most memorable roles, and it established him once and for all as a leading man in Hollywood.

Leading roles in 'The Poseidon Adventure' (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola’s 'The Conversation' (1974), which was also nominated for several Oscars, followed his success as Popeye Doyle. Interestingly, Hackman’s performance as Harry Caul in 'The Conversation' was ranked number 37 in Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances Of All Time in 2006. Hackman himself said that he based his acting of this role on one of his uncles and a fellow marine he had known well. He also commented that the marine “probably became a serial killer.” That same year, Hackman showed movie audiences that he had a gift as a comedic actor too, by playing the Blindman in the Mel Brooks movie, 'Young Frankenstein'. During the 1970s, he also played the role of Major General Stanislaw F. Sosabowski in the glossy war epic, 'A Bridge Too Far' (1977).

He then went on to play a starring role in the original Superman movies, giving memorable performances as the villainous Lex Luthor in 'Superman: The Movie' (1978) and 'Superman II' (1980). Throughout the 1980s, Hackman moved effortlessly between leading and supporting roles, and earned himself yet another Academy Award nomination for his part as Agent Rupert Anderson in 'Mississippi Burning' (1988). He became renowned for his ability to “become” the characters that he played, and for the versatility of his acting styles. He delivers brutal, hard-edged performances in dramas such as 'The French Connection' and 'Mississippi Burning', but is also capable of performing hilariously funny comic turns like in 'The Birdcage' (1996) and 'Heartbreakers' (2001). As the Nineties dawned, Hackman encountered major health problems, and was forced to take a break from acting while he underwent heart surgery in 1990. But he was soon back on form, and fit enough to play the part of the violent sheriff Bill Daggett in 'Unforgiven', directed by Clint Eastwood.

Although Hackman initially turned down the part, this movie actually won the Academy Award for Best Film. Hackman’s stellar performance earned him yet another Oscar, this time as Best Supporting Actor. However, in an interview given after the film came out, Hackman vowed not to appear in any more violent movies. In a press interview, he stated that his role of Max Millan in 'Scarecrow' (1973) is his own personal favourite, but that he was put off acting in art house movies like 'Scarecrow' when the movie turned out to be a box office flop; Hackman went on to explain that he found it very disappointing to work hard on a film that then failed to make money, or earn any awards. According to Hackman, he based his subsequent choice of movie roles not simply on the virtues of the script, but also on the size of the pay cheque. Although he’d only been paid $100,000 for his Oscar-winning performance in 'The French Connection', by the late Seventies, he was commanding $2 million for his role in 'Superman'. Gene Hackman’s personal life has been relatively serene by Hollywood standards, at least.

In 1956, he married Faye Maltese, with whom he had three children; Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne. The marriage lasted some 30 years, but hit a stormy patch in the late 1970s; the story goes that Hackman turned down the lead part of Roy Neary in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1977, because the film schedule involved 16 weeks of location shooting, and since he was having marital problems, he didn’t want to leave Los Angeles for such a long period. Hackman and Faye finally divorced in 1986. Hackman married his second wife, Betsy Arakawa, in 1991. Hackman has also flexed his creative muscles as a writer, and has written two novels in conjunction with the underwater archaeologist, Daniel Lenihan, namely 'Wake Of The Perdido Star' (1999) and 'Justice for None' (2004). Until he reached his seventies, Hackman averaged two movies per year, but his film career has recently slowed down.

In July 2004, Hackman appeared on the Larry King show, and said that he had no film projects lined up and that he considered that his acting career was over; his last movie was called 'Welcome To Mooseport', which received unfavourable reviews from the critics. Hackman continues to do sound voiceovers for TV commercials, such as Oppenheimer Funds, United Airlines and Lowe’s Home Improvements - but who knows, he may yet stage a movie comeback... Gene Hackman. Biography, news, photos and videos Horoscope : Capricorn Back in the early Seventies Gene didn't really see it that way. Before he made 1971's The French Connection, the actor was worried he might never work again. This, despite the fact that he had starred on Broadway, made 13 films and been twice nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscars for Bonnie And Clyde and I Never Sang For My Father. But it wasn't until he won an Academy Award as best actor for his portrayal of New York City police detective Popeye Doyle that Gene made it in his own mind. He was finally a star and has since gone on to become one of the most versatile and well-respected actors in American cinema.

Born on January 30, 1930, in San Bernadino, California, Eugene Alden Hackman had a nomadic childhood with his two parents, Eugene and Lyda, before finally settling in Illinois where he was raised by his British maternal grandmother, Beatrice. Unchallenged by school, he dropped out at the age of 16, lied about his age and enlisted in the Marines. He went on to be trained as a radio operator and, while serving in China, used his skills to land himself a job as a disc jockey. After demob, Gene pursued a career as a radio announcer and in 1952 hitchhiked to New York to attend the School of Radio Technique. He went on to work his way across America's heartland during the early Fifties, developing his resonant vocal abilities in the process. As he approached 30, however, he decided to give his long-held ambition to act a chance. In 1958, Gene enrolled at the famed Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he shared the honour of being voted "least likely to succeed" with classmate Dustin Hoffman . Gene was asked to leave after three months.

Undaunted, the actor returned to New York where he blossomed under the tutelage of George Morrison, a former instructor at the Lee Strasberg Institute. He made his acting debut on the small screen in live television, but slowly he won more and more roles on the Broadway stage. Having earned a reputation in the theatre, Gene was seduced by cinema and had a brief but indelible role as a romantic rival to Warren Beatty in the 1964 feature film Lilith. Three years later, when it came to casting the seminal gangster flick Bonnie And Clyde, Warren remembered his former co-star and offered him the standout role of Buck, Clyde Barrow's older brother. Gene turned what could have been merely a murderous hick into a character infused with righteous innocence, and in doing so earned his first Oscar nomination. It wasn't until The French Connection, however, that Gene finally landed what is arguably his finest role. A skilful warts-and-all portrayal of a sadistic, uncompromising New York cop which brought a host of accolades. His role as male lead established, from then on Gene worked steadily.

By the time he was showcasing his high camp villain Lex Luthor in 1978's Superman, Gene had announced his retirement after nearly seven years of non-stop work. The actor was seduced back to the screen by Warren Beatty for a supporting role in 1981's Reds. Re-energised, Gene went on to etch several memorable characterisations throughout the Eighties, but surgery for heart problems in 1990 provoked another hiatus. The following year, he embarked on his second marriage to girlfriend of seven years, Betsy Arakawa. (Gene had divorced his first wife and the mother of his three children, Faye Maltese, in 1982 after 26 years together.) It seems the easy life wasn't for him, however, and Gene roared back onto the big screen as sadistic, smiling sheriff Little Bill Daggett a part he had initially turned down in Clint Eastwood 's revisionist western Unforgiven. He earned stellar reviews along with numerous awards which were capped by a second Oscar as the year's Best Supporting Actor. Healthy and in demand, Gene has continued delivering outstanding and sometimes award-winning turns ever since.

Having completely conquered Hollywood, he has now turned his sights to the world of literature. He published his first novel in 1999 and has plans for several more. For the moment, the star has no plans to slow down. "I have that old feeling from the early days when you couldn't get a job and you want to take everything that's offered you," he says. "I don't know if I ever had a moment when I 'made it' in Hollywood. I don't think about that." © 2000-2017, HELLO! Gene Hackman: 5 Quotes About Iconic Role as Popeye Doyle A A “The French Connection” (1971) is considered to be the film that gave Gene Hackman his rise to stardom. Hackman, who played tough New York cop Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, earned an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. Hackman's character, Popeye Doyle, was based on real-life New York City narcotics officer Eddie Egan.

The film was such a hit that Hackman reprised the role in 1975 for the sequel, "The French Connection II." Hackman received Best Actor nominations from the Golden Globes and British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the encore performance. Vote Now: Who Is Your Favorite Actor of All Time? Here are five quotes about Gene Hackman’s iconic role, Popeye Doyle: 1. “Popeye Doyle, the New York narc created by Gene Hackman in ‘The French Connection,’ was the most compelling of characters, a man driven by violent hungers that had little to do with his job as a cop. He needed the violence, maybe, to survive the toughest beat in town. He had such presence, such a capacity to explode, that when he ran a bust on a bar, the patrons — pretty tough themselves — were actually intimidated. Popeye was something unique among film characters, and Hackman deserved the Oscar he won for the performance.” – Roger Ebert , Chicago Sun-Times 2.

“The Hackman characterization, one of the most successful in his career, and the only one that is allowed to emerge in much detail, virtually defines the attitude of ‘The French Connection.’ Hard-nosed, pork-pie-hatted, vulgar, a tough cop in the latest measure of a fine tradition, he exists neither to rise nor to fall, to excite neither pity nor terror— but to function. To function in New York City is its own heroism, and the film recognizes that, but it is not the heroism of conventional gesture, and so even the most conventional excitements of ‘The French Connection’ carry with them a built-in air of fatigue.” – Roger Greenspun , The New York Times 3. “Hackman is a prince of Fun City, crowned with an absurd porkpie hat and inhabiting his part so totally, it's amazing that Jackie Gleason and Jimmy Breslin were among the half-dozen personalities first considered for the role. Being a cop is Popeye's vocation; he establishes his street cred early on by single-handedly browbeating and brazenly N-wording the soul-brother patrons of a Bed-Stuy bar.

These post-Great Society policemen have to go it alone, collaring perps by any means necessary.” – J. Hoberman , The Village Voice 4. “Then (agent) Sue Mengers, who represented Gene Hackman, suggested Gene, and we met with him, who'd never really starred in a picture ... and we frankly had no other choice, that was it. The way that film was cast, it was like the Movie God took care of it.” – William Friedkin , director of "The French Connection" 5. “I’m not that kind of guy. He was a physical man. We had to go back and reshoot the first two days of scenes because I hadn’t gotten into the character enough. I wasn’t physical enough.” Interview: Gene Hackman | Film | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close The elderly gentleman in the black leather jerkin and baseball cap is more relaxed than any first-time novelist has a right to be. He leans back in his chair, affable as anything, releasing a throaty chuckle every now and then. The only sign of discomfort comes when he walks a little stiff-legged across the room to fetch a coffee and croissant.

He offers no delineation of his literary vision; there is no agonising over the great issues tackled in the work; no discussion of the author's all-consuming need to write. In fact, this one does not need to write. After more than 70 movies, two Oscars (for The French Connection and Unforgiven) and more nominations than he can recall, Gene Hackman doesn't need to do anything. His latest movie, Under Suspicion, will be released in the UK in the autumn. But there it is: at the age of 70, Hackman, a voracious reader, has published his first book. And then, out of nowhere, he mentions the reviews. Hackman says he never reads what people say about his movies, and maybe he doesn't, but the book is evidently a different matter. "We had a review of the book, I don't know where it was, it said something about the book being, ummm, like it was immature or whatever. Maybe that wasn't the word but we set out to do a story about a young man who is 16 years old. You have to write it from his viewpoint." But nobody ever called The Catcher in the Rye immature.

"Maybe the narration could have been possibly a bit more intellectual, I don't know." Hackman might not know, but Daniel Lenihan, his friend, New Mexico neighbour and co-author, believes he does. "I don't think it's immature," he says. "There was one reviewer saying that this would be really good for young adults." Apparently this was not the effect they were striving for. "Yeah, it's like the kiss of death really," says Hackman. "It doesn't hurt. Actually, in many ways it helps. I think many of the criticisms that we've received, even though we've got 90-something per cent good reviews, it's mainly valuable, ummm, unless they're talking about personalities. You know, here's another book from a movie actor, celebrity or whatever." This double act, one of the world's most recognisable faces and his collaborator, who makes his living under the waves as a marine archaeologist, cooked up the idea for a novel one day in a cafe in Santa Fe.

"We used to talk about books that we enjoyed," says Lenihan, head of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit of the National Park Service, "and Gene of course is evaluating scripts all the time; and then we came up with 'Heck, why don't we just come up with a book like we like to read?' " They like to read Robert Louis Stevenson, Conrad and Melville. What they came up with is Wake of the Perdido Star, a ripping yarn set in the early 19th century and replete with heroes and villains, rip-offs, revenge and redemption. It is a rite of passage which takes young Jack O'Reilly - a seafarer's name if ever there was one - halfway round the world, and sometimes the reader round the bend with its slight, sometimes cartoonish characterisations - a surprise given Hackman's stock-in-trade as an actor. Much of it is written in a succession of short sentences so that there is a staccato effect, rather like reading old Daily Express accounts of the round-the-world voyages of Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Alec Rose before such ventures became a commonplace for almost everyone in possession of a compass.

The writers discuss the reaction to their book as though they were a couple of mature students considering a lecturer's observations. Hackman takes his time, deliberate in his choice of words; Lenihan, dressed just so in a sports jacket, is more jumpy and eager to make his points. "You know, about the criticism," says Lenihan, "what I tend to find the most useful is the criticism that came from people who were writing basically laudatory critiques. 'This is a really fine book,' then they get about halfway through the sixth 'but,' which they have to do, and then you find the stuff that you really have to look at because you know this person didn't have some kind of agenda." One review that they did not find helpful was in the Washington Post. It took a cat-o'-nine-tails to the story and then keelhauled it for good measure, ripping into the story for alleged technical and period detail errors. Lenihan wrote to the paper to take issue. "He found three or four mistakes, technical, which weren't mistakes," says Hackman. "And he was wrong about those too.

This guy was a great fan of Patrick O'Brian (the late master of high seas fiction) and obviously he was trying to protect Patrick O'Brian's reputation. The funny thing is, Dan and I, neither one of us had read any Patrick O'Brian. Not that we had heard bad things about him. It's just one of those things." Lenihan then rather contradicts this apparant ignorance of O'Brian's work: "He's a fine writer. That's not our remit." Hackman, at any rate, can live with a little negativity. As a young actor at the Pasadena Playhouse, he was one of two people voted least likely to succeed. The other was Dustin Hoffman. And what happened to the other actors, the ones who delivered the indictment? "Haven't heard from them," he laughs. "I'll tell you a funny story. There was this guy in our class at Pasadena and, oh, probably 10 or 12 years after I got out of the playhouse I was in California, brought out to a little part in a television show or something.

"I'm driving along and I see this guy on the street and I yell out the window, 'Hey, Steve, I saw you on Blue Light, I think it was called, on television.' So he said, 'Oh.' He didn't remember me. So I drove off and suddenly in my rear-view mirror I see this car going zin, zin, zin [motions from side to side] and it's this guy trying to catch me, driving like hell. So he gets up to me and we're driving along like that and he comes up aside of me and says 'It's gonna be repeated.' It wasn't enough that I like it, he wanted to make sure that I'd see it a second time." There might be no second time for the writing team of Hackman and Lenihan. They took three years over this book and, even though they believe they could do another in a third of that time with the experience they have now, they discovered that their idea for a more contemporary novel has been used already in a recent book.

Hackman is not sure how his work in theatre and the movies informs his writing but agrees tentatively that he might have turned to the printed word as a way of validating himself in much the same way that many screen actors yearn to give the world their Hamlet. "Maybe. I've always kind of admired writers, the control or something." He sees no reason why he should be restricted to one means of expression any more than he should make films that don't interest him. "That career planning that a lot of actors do backfires because you end up doing things that you feel are either going to be easy or financially attractive at the time as opposed to trying to stick with what you know about acting, which is all that any of us really knows. And, you know, let the chips fall where they may." Gene on screen Lilith (1964) His first substantial role, as an asylum inmate in Robert Rossen's bizarre fable of sexual desire, with Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) With Beatty again, playing Clyde's brother Buck in the seminal lovers-on-the-run thriller.

The French Connection (1971) Definitive star performance, as hardass cop Popeye Doyle on the track of drugs smuggled into New York via Marseilles. Won best actor Oscar. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Key entry in the disaster-movie cycle, as a butt-kicking padre who gets the survivors out of the upturned liner. The Conversation (1974) As the sound recordist who overhears sinister goings-on in Coppola's paranoid classic. Superman (1978) Nastily over-the-top as eternal baddie Lex Luthor in groundbreaking comic-book fantasy. Mississippi Burning (1988) A crafty FBI agent after killers in the deep south in Alan Parker's 60s-set race-issue drama. Unforgiven (1992) Another Oscar, for best supporting actor, for his portrayal of sherriff Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's revisionist western. Crimson Tide (1995) Heavyweight talent opposite Denzel Washington in Tony Scott's subs-and-nukes drama.

Get Shorty (1995) Small-time producer Harry Zimm, object of mobster Travolta's movie-world ambitions. Antz (1998) The voice of ruthless General Mandible in insect-world animation. Enemy of the State (1998) Backwith Bruckheimer, as ex-spook helping on-the-run lawyer Will Smith, in a loose reworking of The Conversation.

Question: Gene Hackman won the Best Actor 'Oscar' for his role as 'Popeye Doyle' in which film?
Answer: 'THE FRENCH CONNECTION'