To many, he will always be Superman supervillain Lex Luthor, but with a career spanning six decades, Gene Hackman’s acting CV was as varied as it was long.A former Marine, his work on the screen began with an uncredited TV role in 1961.He would go on to become a Hollywood star – despite his disdain for all things showbiz – playing villains, heroes and antiheroes in more than 80 movies spanning all genres, as well as small screen roles and performances on Broadway.
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Hackman with his second Oscar in 1993. Pic: AP
His most memorable performances include New York City detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection and surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation.Decorated with multiple Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes across his career, he would step away from acting in 2004, pivoting to novel writing, a pursuit he said better suited his solitary nature.Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player2:01
Watch Gene Hackman across a range of roles
Born Eugene Allen Hackman in California in 1930, his parents divorced when he was 13, leaving him to be largely bought up by his British-born grandmother Beatrice Gray in Illinois.Leaving home at 16 to enlist in the Marine Corps, he served as a field radio operator and then as a broadcast journalist from 1947 to 1952, working in post-war China and Japan. During his service, his dislike for authority saw him demoted from corporal three times.Hackman would go on to study journalism and television production at the University of Illinois but later decided to pursue an acting career.Read more: Follow latest: Actor and wife were dead for some timeIn pictures: Hollywood legend on silver screen
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The Poseidon adventure in 1972 . Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
Breakout roleJoining the Pasadena Playhouse in 1956, he would meet fellow jobbing actor Dustin Hoffman, with the pair sharing a flat before both found worldwide fame. He would also study with fellow future Hollywood star Robert Duvall.After TV bit-parts and stage work, Hackman’s breakout role came in 1967 in Bonnie And Clyde, which saw him receive his first Oscar nomination.
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The French Connection. Pic: 20th Century Fox/D’Antoni Productions/Schine-Moore Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
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Unforgiven. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
His first Oscar win came in 1972 for his role as detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, following it with a second 20 years later for his performance in Clint Eastwood’s Western Unforgiven.Already well respected in the acting industry, he would earn household fame after he was cast as supervillain Lex Luthor in 1978, the ultimate nemesis to Christopher Reeve’s Superman.It was a role he would reprise in the film’s subsequent sequels, 1980’s Superman II and 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest F