Hollywood is in mourning after the loss of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa.
The actor—who won two Oscars throughout his decorated career—was found dead in his Santa Fe, New Mexico, home alongside his wife, a classical pianist, and their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office confirmed to NBC News.
Hackman was 95, Arakawa 65.
"Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time," authorities said in a Feb. 27 statement, "however exact cause of death has not been determined."
Hours later, NBC News obtained an affidavit—submitted by authorities to obtain a search warrant—that deemed the circumstances surronding the couple's deaths to be “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
After news of Hackman and Arakawa's tragic passing emerged, director Francis Ford Coppola was among the first to pay tribute to the actor, who he worked with on 1974's The Conversation.
"The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration," he captioned a photo with Hackman on Instagram Feb. 27. "Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution."
While Hackman—who married Arakawa in 1991—had remained mostly out of the public eye since his retirement—his last onscreen appearance was in 2004's Welcome to Mooseport—he gave a rare interview in 2021 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the film The French Connection, for which he won an Academy Award.
“Filmmaking has always been risky—both physically and emotionally," he told The New York Post at the time, "but I do choose to consider that film a moment in a checkered career of hits and misses."
“[I] haven’t seen the film since the first screening in a dark, tiny viewing room in a post-production company’s facility 50 years ago,” he said of the movie, which premiered in 1971, before noting that “if the film has a legacy, I am not sure what that would be."
"At the time," Hackman continued, "it seemed to me to be a reverent story of a cop who was simply able to solve and put a stop to a major crime family’s attempt to infiltrate the New York drug scene.”
Reflecting on its impact, Hackman added, "The film certainly helped me in my career, and I am grateful for that,"
Hackman, whose final films also included Heartbreakers, Heist, Runaway Jury, The Royal Tenenbaums and Behind Enemy Lines, is survived by kids Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie, from his marriage to Faye Maltese.
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Keep reading for a look back at the actor's life...
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