Reclusive actor Gene Hackman, 93, spotted after retiring from acting almost 20 years ago
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Nearly 20 years after his last movie, Hollywood’s legendary actor Gene Hackman has been seen in public in a rare outing in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The 93-year-old movie icon proved that he’s still in good health as he was spotted doing yard work at his ranch with a shovel in hand.
This is a rare sighting of the reclusive star, last seen on-screen in the 2004 comedy Welcome to Mooseport. On July 7 of that same year, Mr Hackman gave a rare interview to TV presenter Larry King, in which he announced that he had no new film projects coming up and believed his acting career was over.
‘I don’t have a project, Larry. If you have a script, I’ll read it. It’s probably all over…This is it,’ he said during the interview.
He was 74 at the time of his retirement. Prior to that, Mr Hackman had been working in the movie industry non-stop, with over 100 film credits to his name.
Fans at the time speculated that the actor’s retirement was due to fatigue with the film industry overall. However, in a rare interview in 2009, Mr Hackman opened up about his retirement from acting and revealed that he stopped working due to health concerns.
‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress,’ he explained.
He also wanted to make sure his retirement status was clear – despite warnings from his agents. ‘The agents don’t want me to say it in case something good comes along. But I’m officially retired. No doubt about it,’ he said in the interview.
He added that he thinks Hollywood ‘gets the message’ by now. ‘I haven’t talked to Hollywood much lately…But I would guess that they’ve moved on.’
However, he said that he ‘missed acting’ during the early parts of his retirement. ‘I miss the actual acting part of it, as it’s what I did for almost 60 years, and I really loved that,’ the Mississippi Burning actor shared.
‘But the business for me is very stressful. The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast, and it had gotten to a point where I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do it anymore.’
He has moved on to other things, such as pursuing his writing career. He wrote his first novel, Wake of the Perdido Star, in 1999 together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan. Then, he published the courtroom drama Justice for None in 2004 and the American Civil War novel Escape from Andersonville in 2008 – still in collaboration with the historian.
Mr Hackman wrote two more novels on his own throughout the 2010s: Payback at Morning Peak, published in 2011, and Pursuit, published in 2013.
In 2011, interviewers asked him if he would ever come out of retirement to do one more film. He responded: ‘If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.’
Mr Hackman briefly broke his retirement to narrate two documentaries because of his service as a United States Marine. He narrated The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima in 2016 and We, The Marines in 2017.
The actor is also an architect and designer who has helped create more than ten homes, including a mansion in New Mexico that featured in Architectural Digest.
The award-winning actor began his film career nearly 70 years ago, after joining the Pasadena Playhouse in 1956, where he befriended fellow aspiring actor at the time, Dustin Hoffman.
Then he moved to New York in 1963 and began performing in a couple of Off-Broadway plays and more minor TV roles.
But it wasn’t until the 70s that he made a name for himself after being nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category for the movie I Never Sang For My Father. The year after, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection.
Since then, the actor worked consistently in several films, including The Poseidon Adventure and The Conversation, before landing the role of supervillain Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie.
In the 80s, he starred in numerous critically-acclaimed films, such as Mississippi Burning, Under Fire, Hoosiers, and Reds. But it wasn’t until the 90s that Mr Hackman received his second Oscar. He won Best Supporting Actor for his work in Unforgiven, alongside fellow award-winning actor Clint Eastwood. In 2001, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy in the Wes Anderson film, The Royal Tenenbaums.
Are you a fan of Gene Hackman? If so, which one is your favourite movie of his? Let us know in the comments!
The 93-year-old movie icon proved that he’s still in good health as he was spotted doing yard work at his ranch with a shovel in hand.
This is a rare sighting of the reclusive star, last seen on-screen in the 2004 comedy Welcome to Mooseport. On July 7 of that same year, Mr Hackman gave a rare interview to TV presenter Larry King, in which he announced that he had no new film projects coming up and believed his acting career was over.
‘I don’t have a project, Larry. If you have a script, I’ll read it. It’s probably all over…This is it,’ he said during the interview.
He was 74 at the time of his retirement. Prior to that, Mr Hackman had been working in the movie industry non-stop, with over 100 film credits to his name.
Mr Hackman is a legendary movie icon. Credit: Shutterstock
Fans at the time speculated that the actor’s retirement was due to fatigue with the film industry overall. However, in a rare interview in 2009, Mr Hackman opened up about his retirement from acting and revealed that he stopped working due to health concerns.
‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress,’ he explained.
He also wanted to make sure his retirement status was clear – despite warnings from his agents. ‘The agents don’t want me to say it in case something good comes along. But I’m officially retired. No doubt about it,’ he said in the interview.
He added that he thinks Hollywood ‘gets the message’ by now. ‘I haven’t talked to Hollywood much lately…But I would guess that they’ve moved on.’
However, he said that he ‘missed acting’ during the early parts of his retirement. ‘I miss the actual acting part of it, as it’s what I did for almost 60 years, and I really loved that,’ the Mississippi Burning actor shared.
‘But the business for me is very stressful. The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast, and it had gotten to a point where I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do it anymore.’
He has moved on to other things, such as pursuing his writing career. He wrote his first novel, Wake of the Perdido Star, in 1999 together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan. Then, he published the courtroom drama Justice for None in 2004 and the American Civil War novel Escape from Andersonville in 2008 – still in collaboration with the historian.
Mr Hackman wrote two more novels on his own throughout the 2010s: Payback at Morning Peak, published in 2011, and Pursuit, published in 2013.
In 2011, interviewers asked him if he would ever come out of retirement to do one more film. He responded: ‘If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.’
Mr Hackman briefly broke his retirement to narrate two documentaries because of his service as a United States Marine. He narrated The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima in 2016 and We, The Marines in 2017.
The actor is also an architect and designer who has helped create more than ten homes, including a mansion in New Mexico that featured in Architectural Digest.
The actor has moved on to other artistic pursuits. Credit: Newmarket Press
The award-winning actor began his film career nearly 70 years ago, after joining the Pasadena Playhouse in 1956, where he befriended fellow aspiring actor at the time, Dustin Hoffman.
Then he moved to New York in 1963 and began performing in a couple of Off-Broadway plays and more minor TV roles.
But it wasn’t until the 70s that he made a name for himself after being nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category for the movie I Never Sang For My Father. The year after, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection.
Since then, the actor worked consistently in several films, including The Poseidon Adventure and The Conversation, before landing the role of supervillain Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie.
In the 80s, he starred in numerous critically-acclaimed films, such as Mississippi Burning, Under Fire, Hoosiers, and Reds. But it wasn’t until the 90s that Mr Hackman received his second Oscar. He won Best Supporting Actor for his work in Unforgiven, alongside fellow award-winning actor Clint Eastwood. In 2001, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy in the Wes Anderson film, The Royal Tenenbaums.
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