Remembering Gene Hackman

One of Hollywood's Great Actors

Recently I’ve been poring over some interviews with Gene Hackman as well as enjoying some of his films.

He gave an interview with James Lipton for Inside the Actor’s Studio which felt especially poignant. Early on, Lipton asks about his childhood and Hackman gets noticeably emotional talking about his father who was all but absent from his life.

This scene runs counter to the man who on screen is always cocksure and intimidating. He was known for being tough, and by all accounts, it seems like Gene Hackman the actor, didn’t suffer fools gladly — desiring to do the best work he possibly could. It just goes to show that people are complex, and any life must be taken with an ample amount of nuance.