Actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are found dead at their home in New Mexico
Actor Gene Hackman (San Bernardino, California, 1930), one of Hollywood's most prolific and versatile actors, has been found dead at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA), along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and one of his three dogs. For the moment, the circumstances surrounding the deaths have not been clarified, but the police have ruled out any evidence of a crime in the home.
According to the tabloid TMZ, the couple had been dead “for some time”. They claim that Arakawa's body showed “signs of decomposition”, while the actor's was “semi-mummified”, which usually takes even longer. His family suspects that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
The lifeless bodies of Hackman, who had just turned 95, and Arakawa, a 63-year-old classical pianist, were discovered by a third person who went to the scene after several days without news of them. The man called the sheriff's office to request what is known as a welfare check, a police visit to check that the occupants of a home are well.
He had been moving away from the cameras since 2008, dedicating himself to writing novels and painting pictures in the American town of Santa Fe (New Mexico). As Efe recalls, the actor himself explained that he had known what he wanted to do since he was a child, inspired by film idols such as James Cagney and Errol Flynn. Although he has also pointed out that what made a definitive impression on him was the performance of the legendary Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).
Hackman was born in San Bernardino on January 30, 1930 and joined the navy at the age of 16, where he made his debut as a radio announcer when he substituted for the station's regular announcer who was injured in an air raid. After his military service, he began to study journalism, but soon abandoned it for drama at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he coincided with Dustin Hoffman and the two were voted the actors with the least chance of success.