Gene Hackman: One of Hollywood's greatest 'tough guys'
Gene Hackman, who has died aged 95, was once described as having the face of a truck driver, but became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.
He won two Oscars - and was nominated for another three - playing violent men, yet was equally at home in comedy.
Having shot to fame in Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the 1960s, he was rarely out of work - in films like The French Connection, Mississippi Burning and Superman.
He retired from acting in 2004 on the advice of his heart doctor, and rarely gave an interview again - opting for a quiet life in New Mexico with his second wife, Betsy.
Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1930 and led a peripatetic childhood.
His parents divorced, and he was palmed off on various relatives until settling with his maternal grandmother in Danville, Illinois.
His father left the family when Hackman was still in his teens; his mother eventually burned to death in 1962, after setting fire to her mattress with a cigarette while drunk.
Hackman lied about his age to join the Marines at the age of 16, and served nearly five years.
He was stationed in China where he worked as a radio operator, which led to later work as a disc jockey.
He played the part of the maverick narcotics agent Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle who pursues a French drugs dealer, most notably in a famous sequence on the New York subway.
It brought him an Academy Award for best actor, and he reprised the role in The French Connection II in 1975.
Gene Hackman never looked back.
Whether it was for critically-acclaimed movies such as The Conversation and Night Moves, or popular blockbusters like The Poseidon Adventure, he became a reliable box-office draw.
One of the great screen tough guys, he effortlessly switched to comedy in Young Frankenstein and played the sleazy supervillain Lex Luthor in Superman and Superman II.
Hackman was so upset about the producers' treatment of the director, Richard Donner, that he refused to take a part in the next sequel, although he later appeared in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
The 1980s was another successful decade, notably for his appearance in Mississippi Burning, for which he was again nominated for a best actor Academy Award.
It was a powerful performance as an FBI agent, tasked, along with a rookie colleague, with investigating the racist murder of black civil rights workers in the early 1960s.
Director Alan Parker referred to Hackman as " a very intuitive and instinctive actor".
Another Oscar for best supporting actor came in 1991 for Unforgiven - a Clint Eastwood Western - in which he played a sadistic sheriff, Bill Daggett. The film also won best picture. It came only a year after Hackman required bypass surgery following a heart attack.
There was a leading role as Edward "Brill" Lyle, the computer genius in the 1998 film, Enemy of the State, where he starred alongside Will Smith in a frightening tale of government surveillance.
Hackman's hard-edged screen persona made him ideal for the intelligent but ruthless characters in film adaptations of John Grisham novels - such as The Firm and Runaway Jury - in which, for the first time, he and former flatmate Dustin Hoffman appeared on screen together.
His versatility, and the luxury of being able able to choose scripts, led in 2001 to another great performance, in the offbeat comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, which drew rave reviews.
But he chose to bow out from acting in the political satire, Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.
Explaining his decision, he told Reuters he didn't want to risk going out on a sour note.
"The business for me is very stressful. The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast," he said, "and it had gotten to a point where I just didn't feel like I wanted to do it any more."
A decade later, he did briefly come out of retirement to narrate two documentaries about the history of the US Marine Corps - but otherwise stuck to his plan.
After quitting acting, he gained a new reputation as a writer of historical fiction.
He co-wrote four books with Daniel Lenihan, Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), Justice for None (2004), Vermillion (2004) and Escape from Andersonville (2008).
He went on to deliver two solo writing efforts, Payback at Morning Peak (2011) and Pursuit (2013).
He spoke about why he had taken to his new job. "I like the loneliness of [writing], actually. It's similar in some ways to acting, but it's more private and I feel like I have more control over what I'm trying to say and do," he told Reuters.
"There's always a compromise in acting and in film, you work with so many people and everyone has an opinion (laughs).
"But with the books, it's just Dan and I and our opinions. I don't know that I like it better than acting, it's just different. I find it relaxing and comforting."
Hackman married Faye Maltese in 1956. The couple had three children but divorced in 1986. Five years later he married Betsy Arakawa, who ran an upmarket furniture store in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Gene Hackman made more than 80 films, and still managed to become both a proficient golfer and respected painter.
He was also a mean performer on the racetrack, driving Formula Ford cars and taking part in the 1983 Daytona Endurance Race.
Throughout his career, he gave few interviews and eschewed the celebrity lifestyle.
"If you look at yourself as a star," he said, "you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being."
Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In a career that spanned more than six decades, he received two Academy Awards, two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said: "We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.
"This is an active investigation - however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor."
Hackman won the best actor Oscar for his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in William Friedkin's 1971 thriller The French Connection, and another for best supporting actor for playing Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven in 1992.
His other Oscar-nominated roles were in 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde - as Buck Barrow in his breakthrough role - and 1970's I Never Sang for My Father, as well as playing the agent in Mississippi Burning (1988).
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the news to local media just after midnight on Wednesday that the couple had died, along with their dog.
The news was later confirmed to the Press Association news agency. Hackman was 95 and his wife 63.
Mr Mendoza said there was no immediate indication of foul play. But he did not provide a cause of death or say when the couple might have died.
"All I can say is that we're in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant."
Much celebrated actor Hackman played more than 100 roles including Lex Luthor in Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
He also starred in the hit movies Runaway Jury and The Conservation, as well as Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums.
His last big screen appearance came as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.
Born in California in 1930, Hackman had enlisted in the army after lying about his age at 16, serving for four-and-a-half years.
Following his military service, after briefly living in New York he decided to pursue acting.
In order to pursue his chosen career, Hackman joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended a young Dustin Hoffman.
"I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press," he once said.
"It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on-screen. I think of myself, and feel like I'm quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that."
…Says Agency Seized Over N1 Trillion Worth of Expired Drugs
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has raised the alarm over threats to her life and the safety of agency staff, calling on authorities to protect them as they navigate hazardous conditions in their duties.
She also advocated for the death penalty for those involved in the production and sale of fake and counterfeit drugs in Nigeria.
Speaking at a State House briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, Prof. Adeyeye disclosed that NAFDAC had recently seized illicit drugs worth over N1 trillion in an ongoing crackdown against substandard and fake pharmaceutical products.
The NAFDAC boss revealed that the agency’s intensified enforcement efforts had resulted in the seizure of 87 truckloads of banned, expired, and substandard medical products. Among the confiscated items were USAID- and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs, male and female condoms, and other compromised medical supplies.
She described the large-scale operation, which targeted Nigeria’s three major open drug markets, as the biggest in NAFDAC’s history. The operation was executed in:
Ariaria and Eziukwu Markets (Aba, Abia State)
Bridge Head Market (Onitsha, Anambra State)
Idumota Drug Market (Lagos State)
Prof. Adeyeye estimated that the value of the seized items was at least N1 trillion, but noted that further assessment could reveal a higher figure.
The NAFDAC DG recounted how staff members had faced kidnapping attempts and physical threats due to their work.
“I told you about the attempted murder about six months ago. One of our staff members in Kano had his child kidnapped because he was doing his job. Fortunately, the child escaped,” she revealed.
“For me, I have two policemen living in my house 24/7 in Abuja and Lagos. I don’t have a life. I can’t go anywhere without police escorts. That’s not my way of living, but I don’t have a choice because we must save our country. Nonetheless, I also use common sense.”
Akunyili’s Legacy and the Battle Against Fake Drugs
The threats facing Prof. Adeyeye mirror those encountered by Prof. Dora Akunyili, who led NAFDAC from 2001 to 2009 and became a target of drug cartels due to her relentless fight against counterfeit drugs.
Akunyili’s motivation stemmed from the death of her sister, who died after receiving fake insulin. Her campaigns led to the closure of open-air drug markets and the confiscation of fake drugs, drawing numerous threats and even an assassination attempt in 2003.
Like Akunyili, Prof. Adeyeye remains determined to eradicate the fake drug menace despite the dangers involved.
Prof. Adeyeye emphasized the need for stricter punishments, including the death penalty, for those endangering lives through fake drugs.
She urged the Nigerian government to implement stronger laws to curb the life-threatening trade of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
NAFDAC continues to intensify its enforcement actions nationwide, with the goal of protecting public health and restoring confidence in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry.
I have written a lot about one of these legends, so I'll focus more on the other legend in this post.
I woke up very early every morning between 1989 and 1993 in order to listen to the breakfast show on Radio Nigeria 1. RN 1 began transmitting at 5:30 every morning and they'd play the National Anthem, the pledge and then they'd have Christian and Islamic prayers. There'd be a brief news bulletin at 6am and then Radioscope woul begin.
Radioscope was hosted (on alternating days) by Manny Onumonu, Zakari Mohammed (Captain ZM) and Evelyn Russell. It was a very interesting show. Manny usually began his shows by playing "Everybody Plays The Fool" by Aron Neville.
It seemed like Manny vanished after 1993, but then he suddenly appeared on the BBC c1998. He hosted Network Africa, the BBC African Service's breakfast show, a few times for around month in 1998 and then he vanished again.
He has now reappeared on Channels TV and he has his own talk show on the station. Here he is, interviewing Bongos Ikuwe.
I have written about Bongos Ikuwe many times on this thread, so I don't need to write much again, except to say that he debunked the popular myth in the second video below.
There is a very weird story that Bongos Ikuwe and Mrs Maryam Babangida were in a relationship before she got married to General Ibrahim Babangida. Rumour mongers claim that his popular song, Maryama, was about Maryam Babangida.
I debunked that crazy rumour on a Nairaland thread a few years ago, but some people kept arguing with me. I provided a link to an interview of Bongos Ikuwe's daughter in which she said that her father only met Maryam Babangida once and that was many years after he wrote Maryama, but someone was still arguing with me, so I challenged him to provide proof that they were ever in a relationship and that's when he stopped arguing.
Of course Manny asked Bongos Ikuwe about the rumour. Mr Ikuwe said that he doesn't like talking about the issue, out of respect for the dead, but (when Manny pressed him) he said that he only met Maryam Babangida once. He then explained the origin of the song.
He said that a British man heard him singing on the radio and called into the station. The man said that he would have loved to be Bongos Ikuwe's promoter but he didn't have any money. However, he made an offer to Bongos Ikuwe. He said that he would cook for him every weekend and invite his British friends over and Bongos would sing for them. He told him that he would have to work very hard because his friends wouldn't want to hear the same songs every weekend, so he would need to write a lot of songs. Maryama was one of the songs that he wrote.
🤣 flyinnizam is simply seeking attention because we all know that I didn't make any noise, we know that there's absolutely nothing that he can do if I choose not to keep quiet and we know that his question has nothing to do with the topic of the thread.
He has been starved of attention and he is in desperate need of my attention.
The R&B singer Roberta Flack, best known for the hits The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song, has died at the age of 88.
"We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025," said a statement from her representatives.
"She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator."
Flack had previously announced in 2022 that she had motor neurone disease, and could no longer sing.
Born in North Carolina and raised in Arlington, Virginia, the musician started out as a classical pianist. She gained a full school scholarship to Howard University aged just 15. Her classical training led her into teaching, but at night she'd accompany opera singers on piano, singing pop standards during the breaks.
"The whole while I was studying classical music, especially in my younger years, I was also doing a lot of doo-ron-ron, shoo-doo-bee-doo, all of that stuff, with my peers, so I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by music all of my life, the Bach and the Chopin and the Schumann on one hand, and all the rhythm and blues," she explained.
Her recording career started after she was discovered singing in a jazz club by musician Les McCann, who later wrote that "her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I've ever known".
But she didn't score her first hit until she was in her 30s - when her recording of Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was used to soundtrack an explicit love scene in Clint Eastwood's 1971 film Play Misty For Me.
It was subsequently named song of the year at the Grammys. Flack won the award a second time the following year, for Killing Me Softly With His Song.
After topping the charts again in 1974 with Feel Like Makin' Love, Flack took a break from performing to concentrate on recording and charitable causes.
She spent much of the 1980s touring and over the course of her career, worked with artists including Donny Hathaway and Miles Davis.
In 1991 she returned to the charts with a duet with Maxi Priest called Set the Night to Music (from the album of the same name).
She also recorded an album of Beatles covers, called Let It Be Roberta, in 2012.
'True soul'
According to the Guardian, Flack once told a journalist: "What I consider myself is a soulful singer, in that I try to sing with all the feeling that I have in my body and my mind.
"A person with true soul is one who can take anybody's song and transcend all the flaws, the technique and just make you listen."
Once married, to US jazz musician Stephen Novosel, the star devoted a lot of her time to the Roberta Flack School of Music in New York.
Reverend Jesse Jackson once described her as "socially relevant and politically unafraid".
In 2020, a year after having a stroke, Flack was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys.
"It's a tremendous and overwhelming honour," she said at the time.
"I've tried my entire career to tell stories through my music. This award is a validation to me that my peers heard my thoughts and took in what I have tried to give."
Flack's most famous song was introduced to a new generation of music fans when Lauryn Hill's hip-hop group The Fugees recorded a Grammy-winning cover of Killing Me Softly, which they would eventually perform on-stage alongside her. It topped the charts around the world in 1996.
Plumbing materials dealers in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State, on Wednesday, denied involvement in the alleged attack on officials of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Chairman of the association, Ebuka Efuobi, made this known in Onitsha while addressing newsmen, and denied any knowledge of attack in the market.
There had been accusation and counter accusations following the attack on the NAFDAC officials who were in the market on a tip off to inspect a warehouse stacked with suspected fake and adulterated drugs.
Efuobi said his members were not drugs dealers and therefore had nothing to do with officials of the agency, saying, “l am not aware that officials of the agency came to my section. I was not informed and nobody sent for me when they arrived.
“Nobody was beaten to my knowledge and NAFDAC should know that we deal on plumbing materials and not drugs. If they have any issues with the drugs they should ask the drugs dealers popularly called Ogbo Ogwu.”
The chairman said they had a meeting where they agreed that nobody should be allowed to park drugs in the market.
“We have security here. Maybe they didn’t inform anybody when they bashed into the market, went straight to the warehouse and begin to break it,” he added.
Another member of the plumbing dealers, who preferred anonymity, accused the drug dealers of masterminding the assault on the agency officials.
“The truth is that drug dealers are witch-hunting themselves. Who told them there were drugs parked in a warehouse here at the plumbing market?
When contacted, chairman, caretaker committee, Onitsha Patent Proprietors’ Medicine Dealers’ Union Bridge Head Market, Anthony Ezeoba, told journalists he had no time to talk to anybody on the issue.
Igboblog: Tension As NAFDAC Officials, Policemen Escape Lynching In Onitsha Market
There was tension yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra after officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and policemen escaped getting lynched during an enforcement exercise, Igbere TV reports.
Igbere TV reports that the incident happened at Head Bridge Drug Market, Onitsha, to be precise.
NAFDAC made this known in a statement by its Director-General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, that the combined team of officials and policemen had visited the market sequel to credible intelligence obtained from concerned members of the public.
According to the agency, it had received information regarding the connivance of drug counterfeiters from the market and the executive members of the Plumbing Material Market Association Onitsha over the diversion, concealment, and storage of substandard and falsified medical products at the plumbing material market.
However, an attempt to apprehend those found culpable as well as ensure the seizure of the items led to NAFDAC officials getting stoned.
The statement reads,
“Officials of NAFDAC visited the offending warehouse for an immediate evacuation of the substandard and counterfeit products and packaging materials.
“The contingent of NAFDAC officials and police officers were attacked and pelted with stones, bottles, packaged water and plumbing items by a mob under the watch of the executive members of the Plumbing Material Market Association Head Bridge Onitsha.
“However, the NAFDAC team were able to evacuate a limited quantity of the counterfeit Anti-malaria, Antibiotics, Sildenafil Citrate, including Tetanus Toxoid stored in a warehouse with a temperature of over 40oC.”
The agency, which is charged with the mandate of safeguarding the health of Nigerians, noted that storing cold-chain drugs such as vaccines or injections that are supposed to be stored at below 4oC at a temperature as high as 40oC would have damaged the drug and subjected the person that would use it to danger that could result in death.
“Counterfeiting of drugs subjects the population to treatment failure and early death.
“Members of the families of the counterfeiters are included in the population, that is, no one is exempted from the consequences of substandard, falsified and counterfeited medicines. Therefore, protect your family from dangers of falsified medicines by reporting any suspicion of fake medicines to 08001NAFDAC or to the nearest NAFDAC office to you.”
People have asked why NAFDAC shut the entire Bridge Head Market? They ask why the agency closed shops that are not involved in selling drugs and why they refused to allow anyone into the market. They also ask why soldiers are involved in the operation.
In 2019 NAFDAC got a tip off that illegal drugs were being wharehoused and sold at the plumbing materials section of the market. They went to the market with policemen to search the specific shops that were suspected of being used to store illegal drugs (they didn't close the market, they went to inspect the specific shops).
The NAFDAC officials and policemen were attacked and mobbed by traders. They had to retreat without carrying out their mission.
However, NAFDAC continued to receive information that illegal drugs were being sold in various parts of the market.
The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, gave NAFDAC security cover and troops cordoned off the market to ensure that nobody could mob or attack the NAFDAC officials. NAFDAC officials and policemen went into the market and in the presence of the chairman of the plumbing materials section, they found that shops in that section were being used as wharehouses to store illegal drugs.
NAFDAC is currently searching other parts of the market and they have announced that they will allow traders to come into the market in batches, open their shops for NAFDAC to search and then the traders will be allowed back in if nothing illegal is found in the shop.
Attack On NAFDAC Officers At Plumbing Material Market At Head Bridge Onitsha
Sequel to credible intelligence obtained from concerned members of the public regarding the connivance of drug counterfeiters from the Head Bridge Drug Market Onitsha and the Executive members of the Plumbing Material Market Association Onitsha in the diversion, concealment and storage of substandard and falsified medical products at the plumbing material market; on Friday, 12th July 2019 the officials of NAFDAC visited the offending warehouse for immediate evacuation of the substandard and counterfeit products and packaging materials.
The Contingent of NAFDAC officials and Police officers were attacked and pelted with stones, bottles, packaged water and plumbing items by a mob under the watch of the executive members of the Plumbing Material Market Association Head Bridge Onitsha.
However, the NAFDAC team were able to evacuate limited quantity of the counterfeit Anti-malarial, Antibiotics, Sildenafil Citrate, including Tetanus Toxoid stored in a warehouse with temperature of over 40oC.
NAFDAC’s mandate is to safeguard the health of Nigerians. Storing cold chain drugs such as vaccines or injections that are supposed to be stored at below 4oC at a temperature as high as 40oC would have damaged the drug and subject the person that will receive it to danger that could result in death.
Similarly, other drugs stored at this high temperature will compromise the health of the population and result in fatalities. Counterfeiting of drugs subjects the population to treatment failure and early death. Members of the families of the counterfeiters are included in the population, that is, no one is exempted from the consequences of substandard, falsified and counterfeited medicines. Therefore, protect your family from dangers of falsified medicines by reporting any suspicion of fake medicines to 0800-1NAFDAC (0800 162 3322) or to the nearest NAFDAC office to you.
NAFDAC hereby warns that no stone will be left unturned in dismantling the operations and networks of counterfeiters of drugs as well as the traders whether in the Plumbing Material Market or anywhere who aid and abet the storage, concealment and distribution of substandard and falsified medical products.
NAFDAC ………safeguarding the health of the Nation!!!
Celebrities › Re: Gene Hackman And His Wife, Betsy Arakawa Found Dead At Their Home by naptu2(op): 10:14am On Feb 27, 2025*. Modified: 12:37pm On Feb 27, 2025
