Legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their New Mexico home Wednesday, Page Six can confirm. He was 95, and she was 64.
Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of the two-time Oscar winner, the classical pianist and one of their dogs while performing a welfare check at approximately 1:45 p.m. local time. Two other canines on the property were alive.
“Foul play is not currently suspected as a factor in those deaths,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office tells us, adding that the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
Hackman and Arakawa, who had been married since 1991, were “located in separate rooms,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The movie star’s daughter Elizabeth told TMZ the family suspected carbon monoxide poisoning was to blame, but a search warrant stated that there were “no obvious signs of a gas leak” in the house.
The couple, who were last photographed together in March 2024 while dining at a local restaurant, are believed to have been dead for at least a day, as Arakawa’s body was decomposed with “bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet,” per the search warrant.
Police reportedly found an open medication bottle and pills scattered in a bathroom, where both Arakawa and the dog died, while Hackman was discovered in a room near the kitchen.
Hackman — best known for his role in “The French Connection” (1971), which he claimed to have watched only once despite winning an Oscar for best actor for the film — celebrated his 95th birthday last month.
The iconic actor also starred in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), “Young Frankenstein” (1974), “Night Moves” (1975), “Bite the Bullet” (1975), “Superman” (1978), Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” (1992), which earned him his second Academy Award, and “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001).
Hackman’s prolific resume also included three Golden Globes and the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he received in 2003.
At the glitzy Los Angeles ceremony, Michael Caine and Robin Williams — who starred alongside Hackman in “A Bridge Too Far” (1977) and “The Birdcage” (1996), respectively — presented the honorary trophy for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
Hackman, who shied away from the spotlight in recent years, retired from acting in 2004. His last project was “Welcome to Mooseport.”
He and his wife subsequently traded their Los Angeles home for an estate in New Mexico, where they had resided ever since.
Hackman is survived by his three children, Christopher, 65, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie, 58, whom he shared with his ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017.
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