Gene Hackman

Birthday: 30 January 1930, San Bernardino, California, USA

Birth Name: Eugene Allen Hackman

Height: 185 cm

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). Show less «

I suppose I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about 10, maybe even younger than that. Recoll...Show more »

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. Show less «

[beginning his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, when he won Best Supporting Actor for Unforgi...Show more »

[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. Show less «

(2011, on how he'd like to be remembered) As a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what wa...Show more »

(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. Show less «

[on accepting his Best Actor Oscar] I wish all five of us could be up here, I really do.

[Dustin Hoffman on him and Hackman as young stage actors and roommates in New York] Psychologically,...Show more »

[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. Show less «

If I start to become a "star", I'll lose contact with the normal guys I play best.

[on whether he will ever come out of retirement and act again] Only in reruns. Yeah, that's it. I'm ...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[on making The French Connection (1971)] I found out very quickly that I am not a violent person. An...Show more »

[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. Show less «

Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors.

I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and age...Show more »

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. Show less «

(2011, on where he keeps his Oscars) You know, I'm not sure; I don't have any memorabilia around the...Show more »

(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. Show less «

When you're on top, you get a sense of immortality. You feel you can do no wrong, that it will alway...Show more »

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. Show less «

The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.

[on writing novels] With me it takes quite a long time, at least a year maybe a little more by the t...Show more »

[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. Show less «

I wanted to act, but I'd always been convinced that actors had to be handsome. That came from the da...Show more »

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. Show less «

People in the street still call me Popeye, and The French Connection (1971) was 15 years ago. I wish...Show more »

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. Show less «

I haven't held a press conference to announce retirement, but yes, I'm not going to act any longer. ...Show more »

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. Show less «

Our dreams are usually limited by some kind of reality check and because a guy thinks because he can...Show more »

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. Show less «

(2011, on Hoosiers (1986)) I took the film at a time that I was desperate for money. I took it for a...Show more »

(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. Show less «

[In a 2011 GQ interview, when asked if he would ever come out of retirement and make another film] I...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[on seeing Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and becoming determined to be an actor] ...Show more »

[on seeing Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and becoming determined to be an actor] He made it seem something natural. Show less «

[on aging] It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on-screen. I think of myself, and fe...Show more »

[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. Show less «

I came to New York when I was 25, and I worked at Howard Johnson's in Times Square, where I did the ...Show more »

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. Show less «

I'm disappointed that success hasn't been a Himalayan feeling.

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman's FILMOGRAPHY

Gene Hackman'S roles

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