‘We were privileged to call him a New Mexican’

Death of actor Gene Hackman sends shockwaves through the local arts community

28 feb 2025 - Albuquerque Journal

BY LOGAN ROYCE BEITMEN JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The sudden death of two-time Academy Award-winning actor and longtime Santa Fe resident Gene Hackman and his wife, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, sent shockwaves through the local arts community. Hackman and Arakawa, who moved to New Mexico in the 1980s, established themselves as generous and beloved patrons of the arts.EDDIE MOORE/JOURNALThe Santa Fe police and fire departments investigate the death of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, at the Santa Fe Summit community on Thursday.

Their deaths, which are the subject of an ongoing investigation, were announced Thursday.

Film commissioner Jennifer LaBar-Tapia of the Santa Fe Film Office said Hackman “fell in love with Santa Fe” while shooting on location there. Hackman starred in the Westerns “Bite the Bullet” (1975) and “Wyatt Earp” (1994), which were both filmed in northern New Mexico.

“One of his famous quotes was, ‘Villains are the best roles,’ but he couldn’t be further from that,” LaBar-Tapia said. “One of the nicest guys you’d hope to meet, we just saw him as a beloved member of our community.” “He was definitely a man about town, a gentleman, and someone who loved the dining and arts scene of Santa Fe,” she said.

Hackman’s passion for fine cuisine led him to invest in local restaurants, becoming a co-owner of Jinja Bar and Bistro and Café Escalera.

Jacques Paisner, the artistic director of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, once worked at Café Escalera, which is where he first met Hackman.

“He was a true Santa Fean, frequenting the restaurants he owned, and really ‘our’ movie star, along with Shirley MacLaine and Robert Redford,” Paisner said.

Paisner singled out Hackman’s performances in “The French Connection” and “Mississippi Burning” as particularly “powerful.”

“I can also tell you Mr. Hackman loved my dog,” he added.

Hackman was also instrumental in helping to establish the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, which opened in 1997. The museum issued a statement expressing that it was “deeply saddened” by the passing of Hackman and Arakawa.

“From 1997 to 2004, Gene served on the museum’s board of trustees, playing a vital role in shaping the museum’s early years,” the statement read.

“Beyond his role as a trustee, Gene contributed to the museum in meaningful ways, notably as the narrator of the Perry Miller Adato film, ‘Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life in Art.’ The museum is grateful for his commitment to sharing Georgia O’Keeffe’s legacy and for their deep support of the arts and cultural initiatives.”

On Thursday afternoon, the New Mexico Senate honored Hackman with a moment of silence.

Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D–Las Cruces, characterized Hackman as a humble, down-to-earth presence who never “acted Hollywood” around legislators who saw him around town.

“We were privileged to call him a New Mexican,” Cervantes said. “It’s a sad loss to us, but a remarkable career, and I think we ought to recognize that.”

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. 

He covers music, visual arts, books, and more. 

You can reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com.

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Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time

A maintenance worker discovered the bodies at their Santa Fe home Wednesday

28 Feb 2025 - Albuquerque Journal

BY SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN AND BRIAN MELLEY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANTA FE — Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple’s Santa Fe home, investigators said.ROBERTO E. ROSALES/ASSOCIATED PRESSLaw enforcement officials talk outside the home of actor Gene Hackman on Thursday in Santa Fe.

Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in an entryway, and his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives wrote in a search warrant affidavit. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.

Denise Avila, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said there was no indication they had been shot or had any wounds.

The New Mexico Gas Co. tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn’t find any signs of problems and the fire department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning.

The gruff but beloved Hackman was among the most accomplished actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa,” his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement Thursday. “We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”

Worker found bodies of Hackman and his wife

According to the search warrant affidavit, a maintenance worker reported that the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies.

But in a 911 call, the maintenance worker said he was unable to get inside when the operator asked whether the people in the house were breathing.

“I have no idea,” the subdivision’s caretaker said. “I am not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in. But I can see she’s laying down on the floor from the window.”

He and another worker later told authorities that they rarely saw the homeowners and their last contact with them had been about two weeks ago.

Hackman appeared to have fallen, a deputy observed. A cane was nearby.

A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a news conference Thursday that the dog was found in a kennel. Two healthy dogs were found on the property — one inside and one outside.

“There was no indication of a struggle,” Mendoza said. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed, you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred.”

Results of autopsies conducted on both bodies are not available yet, sheriff’s officials said, noting that carbon monoxide and toxicology test results are pending.

The search warrant affidavit suggests that police appear to have a working theory that “some kind of gas poisoning” happened, but that they don’t know yet and aren’t ruling anything out, Loyola Marymount University law professor Laurie Levenson said.

“They don’t have clear evidence that it’s any type of homicide, but they’re asking for blunt instruments or other weapons that could be used,” said Levenson, who has no connection to the investigation. “It doesn’t also look like some kind of planned double-suicide.”

William & Mary Law School professor Jeffrey Bellin said the request for a search warrant was somewhat unusual because investigators who file one usually believe a specific crime was committed. In this case, no alleged crime was mentioned, Bellin said.

Police tend to overstate what they know, but this is the opposite, said Bellin, who also isn’t tied to the investigation.

“It just struck me as very careful in a way that search warrant affidavits often are not,” he said.

Actor known for his versatility

Hackman routinely showed up on Hollywood lists of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually any kind of role, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” to a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”

Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

Tributes quickly poured in from Hollywood.

“There was no finer actor than Gene,” actor-director Clint Eastwood, Hackman’s “Unforgiven” co-star, said in a statement. “Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.”

Hackman and Arakawa settled in Santa Fe

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade.

Their Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains. The sprawling four-bedroom home on 6 acres was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

Hackman and his wife also owned a more modest home next door.

Hackman also co-wrote three novels, starting with the swashbuckler, “Wake of the Perdido Star,” with Daniel Lenihan in 1999, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. He then penned two by himself, concluding with “Pursuit” in 2013, about a female police officer on the tail of a predator.

In his first couple of decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the historic state capital, known as an artist enclave, tourism destination and retreat for celebrities.

He served on the board of trustees for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum from 1997-2004, the museum said in a statement.

Hackman’s later years

In recent years, he was far less visible, though even the most mundane outings caught the attention of the press. There were articles about him attending a show at a performing arts center in 2018, as well as pumping gas, doing yard work and getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy’s in 2023.

Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired from acting about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.

Hackman had three children from a previous marriage. He and Arakawa had no children together but were known for having German shepherds.

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Betsy Arakawa was a concert pianist, business co-founder

28 Feb 2025 - Albuquerque Journal

BY HILLEL ITALIE AP NATIONAL WRITER

Betsy Arakawa, a concert pianist and co-founder of a home furnishing business, was found dead Wednesday in her Santa Fe, New Mexico, home along with actor-husband Gene Hackman and their dog, according to authorities. She was 65.

Arakawa and the 95-year-old Hackman lived in a Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail, in a gated community that looks out on the Rocky Mountains. They owned as many as three German shepherds at one time and often spent their free time watching movies.

“We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce,” Hackman told Empire magazine in 2009.

Raised in Honolulu, Arakawa studied piano at an early age and was just 11 when she performed for 9,000 children at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, according to a 1971 report from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper.

According to a 1981 column in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she attended a private prep school in Honolulu before moving to Los Angeles and studying at the University of Southern California, from which she graduated with a degree in social sciences and communication.

After college, she played with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, now the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, and gave a more private show in 1989 at a Chicago-area nursing home used for Hackman’s film “The Package.”

In Santa Fe, she helped found Pandora’s in 2001. The store’s website describes Pandora’s as “dealing in functional art, the art of life — what one lives in, sleeps in and wraps around one’s shoulders on a chilly day.”

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GEORGE BRICH /ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actor Gene Hackman during an interview in March 1972.

Tributes pour in from Hollywood

Director Francis Ford Coppola, actor Viola Davis and director Paul Feig are among those paying tribute to Hackman after his death

28 Feb 2025 - Albuquerque Journal

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Director Francis Ford Coppola, actor Viola Davis, director Paul Feig and and actor-director Clint Eastwood are among those paying tribute to Gene Hackman after his death at age 95. Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home, authorities said Thursday.

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity, I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.” 

   — Francis Ford Coppola on Instagram.

“There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.” 

   — actor-director Clint Eastwood in a statement.

“He was a tough nut, Gene Hackman, but he was really good and he was really difficult. Like, we can say it now, but he was a tough guy because older great actors do not give young directors much of a chance. They’re really rough on ’em.” — Bill Murray, recounting to The Associated Press Thursday how Hackman worked on the set of the “Royal Tenenbaums,” including doing multiple takes flawlessly when other performers didn’t nail the scene. “He was a great one. He was a great actor.”

“There has never been a ‘Gene Hackman Type.’ There has only been Gene Hackman. 

   — Actor Tom Hanks on Instagram.

“We have lost a true legend. The magnificent Gene Hackman has passed away. A man whose breath of talent was immeasurable. Growing up on his movies was an absolute thrill for me. To observe his remarkable facility and humanity in every role was something to behold. Whatever film he was in, he made it better. A force of nature like no other and as such there will never be another like him.” 

   — actor Cary Elwes.

“The greatest ... ” 

   — director Edgar Wright on X.

“So awful. Gene was such an inspiration to so many of us who love movies. So many brilliant roles. His performance in ‘The Conversation’ alone changed the way I looked at acting and what actors could bring to a role. Such an amazing career. RIP Mr. Hackman.” 

   — director Paul Feig on X.

“Loved you in everything! ‘The Conversation,’ ‘The French Connection,’ ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ ‘Unforgiven’ —tough yet vulnerable. You were one of the greats. God bless those who loved you. Rest well, sir.” 

   — actor Viola Davis on Instagram.