Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Ann Lydia Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After several moves, his family settled in Danville, Illinois. Gene grew
up in a broken home, which he left at the age of sixteen for a hitch with the US Marines.
Moving to New York after being discharged, he worked in
a number of menial jobs before studying journalism and television
production on the G.I. Bill at the University of Illinois. Hackman would be over 30 years old when he finally decided to take his chance
at acting by enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse. Legend says that Hackman and friend
Dustin Hoffman were voted "least likely
to succeed."
Hackman next moved back to New York, where he worked in summer stock
and off-Broadway. In 1964 he was cast as the young suitor in the
Broadway play "Any Wednesday." This role would lead to him being cast
in the small role of Norman in
Lilith (1964), starring
Warren Beatty. When Beatty was
casting for
Bonnie und Clyde (1967), he cast
Hackman as Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow's
brother. That role earned Hackman a nomination for the Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actor, an award for which he would again be
nominated in
Kein Lied für meinen Vater (1970).
In 1972 he won the Oscar for his role as Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
in
French Connection - Brennpunkt Brooklyn (1971).
At 40 years old Hackman was a Hollywood star whose work would rise to
new heights with Die heiße Spur (1975)
and 700 Meilen westwärts (1975), or
fall to new depths with
Die Höllenfahrt der Poseidon (1972)
and Eureka (1983). Hackman is a versatile
actor who can play comedy (the blind man in
Frankenstein Junior (1974)) or
villainy (the evil Lex Luthor in
Superman - Der Film (1978)). He is the doctor who
puts his work above people in
Extrem... mit allen Mitteln (1996) and the
captain on the edge of nuclear destruction in
Crimson Tide - In tiefster Gefahr (1995). After initially
turning down the role of Little Bill Daggett in
Clint Eastwood's
Erbarmungslos (1992), Hackman finally
accepted it, as its different slant on the western interested him. For
his performance he won the Oscar and Golden Globe and decided that he
wasn't tired of westerns after all. He has since appeared in
Geronimo - Das Blut Der Apachen (1993),
Wyatt Earp - Das Leben einer Legende (1994), and
Schneller als der Tod (1995).
