The French Connection, The Birdcage, Behind Enemy Lines
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$80 Million
"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." It's easy to see that Gene Hackman is serious about the work he does, and that he doesn't want to be bothered with the rest of the requirements for being a star. He wants to do what he does best, which is portray others on the big -- and small -- screen. He was an actor for more than 60 years, during which he was nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globes, a SAG Award, and BAFTA Awards. But how did someone who didn't want to be a star get into acting, and where is he headed now that he's officially retired from the acting he did for so long? Read on, and find out all you need to know about the talented Mr. Hackman.
Starting Out Small in California
Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, and has a brother named Richard. But the little family didn't stay in California. Instead, they moved frequently around the country, looking for a place where they really felt at home. They finally settled down in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in a house that belonged to Hackman's maternal grandmother. There, Hackman's father worked at a local paper where he operated the printing press. Eventually his parents divorced and his father left. When Hackman was 10, he decided that he wanted to work as an actor. At age 16 he left home, and he lied about his age to join the Marines. There, he was a field radio operator for more than four years. In 1951 he left the Marines, and in 1956 he decided it was time to pursue a career in acting.
He joined the Pasadena Playhouse, where he met Dustin Hoffman who was also an aspiring actor at the time. They were both seen as outsiders, and they were voted unlikely to succeed by their classmates. He scored poorly on his work at the playhouse, but he wanted to show them they were all wrong about him. Moving to New York, Hackman shared living quarters with Hoffman and Robert Duvall in various combinations and worked as a doorman as a restaurant to support himself. But he was still determined to act, and continued to pursue it. He started with Off-Broadway plays and bit roles, but the best was yet to come. He encountered a Pasadena Playhouse instructor who was visiting New York, and seeing the man again made Hackman even more determined to succeed.
A Long-Term Career and Other Causes
He co-starred in the play Any Wednesday in 1964, and that gave him an open door to move into films. He got a role in Lilith (1964), which starred Warren Beatty. Then he was in an episode of The Invaders on television in 1967. That same year he had a supporting role in Bonnie and Clyde, which got him nominated for an Academy Award. He continued to work sporadically but with relative consistency throughout the 1960s, and his career grew by leaps and bounds in the 1970s. He was again nominated for awards for his work, and graduated to the status of leading man with his role in The French Connection (1971). During the 1970s he was also in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and A Bridge Too Far (1977), along with other movies that performed well at the box office.
As he has gotten older, though, Hackman has said, "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." His career has spanned such a long period of time that he has a number of movies to look back on and see himself as a young man and as he aged. He worked throughout the 1980s, and by the end of the decade he was going back and forth between leading roles and supporting roles. He had an angioplasty in 1990, but was back to work after he was cleared by his doctor. The 1990s and 2000s saw Hackman working steadily and keeping a strong fan base and the praise of critics, as well.
Hackman retired from acting in 2004, and confirmed that decision in 2008, but that doesn't mean he stopped being in the spotlight. He has written several novels and has been on talk shows to discuss books. While Hackman isn't going to be in the movies or on TV anymore, fans can still enjoy all the work he provided to them throughout a career that he worked hard at for most of his life. It's a great legacy to leave, and Hackman has clearly shown that the Pasadena Playhouse instructors who felt he wouldn't do well as an actor were very, very wrong.
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