Los Angeles, Feb 27: Iconic US actor Gene Hackman, renowned for his Oscar-winning role as an American drug enforcement agent in thriller "The French Connection", Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor, and the FBI agent investigating the death of civil rights activists in the American South in "Mississippi Burning", was found dead at his home in Santa Fe in New Mexico. He was 95.

His wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog were also found dead with him, as per local law enforcement authorities.

"We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail," the Sante Fe County Sheriff's office said in a statement.

"This is an active investigation - however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor."

"On 26 February, 2025, at approximately 1:45 pm, Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and a dog were found deceased," the Sheriff's office said.

Apart from Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in "The French Connection", Eugene 'Gene' Allen Hackman, whose film career lasted over six decades, also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Clint Eastwood-helmed Westen "Unforgiven".

His other Oscar-nominated roles were in "Bonnie and Clyde" opposite Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway - and "I Never Sang for My Father", as well as "Mississippi Burning".

However, Hackman was perhaps best known for playing supervillain Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s. His performance as stoic Polish Major General Stanisław Sosabowski in Richard Attenborough's ensemble war film "The Bridge Too Far" was also notable in a film full of top heroes.

On his entry to films after a stint in the US Marine Corps, Hackman once said: "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."

He counted Marlon Brando's performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" as one of his inspirations in acting and praised how he made it seem "so natural".

Director Francis Ford Coppola, in whose "The Conversation" Hackman had acted, called him "a great artist".

"Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution", Coppola said in a post on Instagram.

--IANS

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