Hackman, Gene (1931– )

US actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection (1971), and has continued to play mainly combative roles in such films as Night Moves (1975), Mississippi Burning (1988), Unforgiven (1992; Academy Award), Get Shorty (1995), Enemy of the State (1998), Heartbreakers (2001), Heist (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and Runaway Jury (2003).

Born in San Bernardino, California, Hackman joined the Marine Corps in 1947. He started acting in the theatre, with his first off-Broadway performance in 1958, and his Broadway debut in 1964. A supporting player in such films as Lilith (1964), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and I Never Sang for My Father (1970), Hackman soon gained a wider audience. His other films include The Conversation (1974), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Under Suspicion (2000), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), and Welcome to Mooseport (2004).