Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman[His middle name is "Allen", according to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com] (born
January 30,
1930) is a two-time
Academy Award-winning
American actor and
author. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role in
The French Connection, and continued to appear in major roles in
Hollywood films, including Harry Caul in
The Conversation, Norman Dale in
Hoosiers, Little Bill Dagget in
Unforgiven, Lex Luthor in
Superman (and its sequels), Joe Moore in
Heist and more recently, Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in
Behind Enemy Lines.
Biography
Early life
Hackman was born in
San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (
née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman.
[Gene Hackman Biography (1930-)] He has a brother, Richard. Hackman's family moved from one place to another until finally settling in
Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his maternal grandmother, Beatrice, and where Hackman's father operated the printing press for the
Commercial-News, a local paper.
Hackman's parents divorced in 1943.
His mother died in 1962, as a result of a fire she accidentally set while smoking.
[Gene Hackman profile. E! Online.com.] At sixteen, Hackman left home to join the
U.S. Marine Corps, where he served 3 years as a field radio operator. Having finished his service, he moved to
New York, working in several minor jobs before moving to study television production and journalism at the
University of Illinois under the
G.I. Bill.
