Gene Hackman, one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, turned 94 years old on January 30, 2024.
His career took flight in the late 1960s in Hollywood with his Oscar-nominated supporting role in the award-winning and box-office hit “Bonnie and Clyde.” His career continued strong in the 1970s, and he still performed at high levels well into the 1990s and 2000s.
Related: Gene Hackman, who lied about his age to enlist in the USMC, dead at 95
Hackman retired in 2004 at the age of 74. He earned two Academy Awards, one for Best Actor as Popeye Doyle in “The French Connection” and the second for Best Supporting Actor as “Little” Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.”
Before he became famous, Hackman served in the Marine Corps from 1947 to 1951 and earned the rank of corporal.
Hackman Was a Field Radio Operator in the Military
Gene Hackman on His School Days, Playing Sports, and Joining the Marine Corps
Hackman joined the Marines at the age of 16 and had the military occupational specialty (MOS) of field radio operator. His duty stations included China, Hawaii, and Japan. Hackman served in China before the Communist Revolution in 1949.
Hackman left the Marines in 1951 and started toward his long journey to become an iconic actor. In 1956, he officially began his acting career and studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. He encountered early rejection but met classmate Dustin Hoffman.
Hackman and Hoffman eventually moved to New York City to reinvigorate their careers. While there, they met another struggling actor, Robert Duvall. The three of them enjoyed a rich friendship with much camaraderie.
During this period, Hackman supported himself with odd jobs and continued to press forward through rejection toward his goal. He booked roles in television shows such as “Route 66,” “Naked City,” and “The F.B.I.” that furthered his career. Hackman worked on Broadway and in Off-Broadway plays to further his skills and abilities. He earned supporting roles in films before his big break in “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967.
Chasing Drug Smugglers in ‘The French Connection’
Hackman’s next career-moving role came in “The French Connection,” which starred Hackman and Roy Scheider as New York Police Department cops on the trail of drug smugglers. The role solidified Hackman in American pop culture and as a serious, centered, and hard-working actor.
Throughout the 1970s, Hackman sailed through roles in blockbuster and award-winning hits such as “The Poseidon Adventure,” “The Conversation,” “A Bridge Too Far,” and “Superman.” Hackman played Superman’s arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, in three out of the four original “Superman” films.
He leaped into the 1980s with his trademark vigor in popular films such as “Uncommon Valor,” “Hoosiers,” “Superman II,” “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,” “Bat*21,” and “Mississippi Burning.” Hackman earned an Oscar nomination for his role as FBI agent Rupert Anderson, who investigated the disappearance of three civil rights workers, in “Mississippi Burning.”
In the 1990s, Hackman appeared in such well-received movies as “Unforgiven,” “The Firm,” “Get Shorty,” “The Quick and the Dead,” “Crimson Tide,” and “Enemy of the State.” Along the way, he worked with several notable actors, including Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Sharon Stone.
Narrating 2 Marine Corps Films
By the early 2000s, Hackman’s acting work continued with films such as “Under Suspicion” with Morgan Freeman, “The Replacements” with Keanu Reeves, and “Behind Enemy Lines” with Owen Wilson. Hackman also worked with Hoffman in “Runaway Jury” in 2003.
Hackman announced his retirement in a rare interview with CNN’s Larry King on July 7, 2004. His only time out of retirement was to narrate two Marine Corps films: “The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima” and “We, the Marines.”
Hackman left a legacy of excellence on screen and was proud of his Marine Corps service. He died of heart disease in February 2025, a week after his wife died of a rare respiratory disease.
