Award-winning actor Gene Hackman was born on January 30, 1930 in San Bernardino, California. He left home at 16 to join the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served as a field radio operator for three years. He then moved to New York and worked odd jobs before attending the University of Illinois to study journalism and television production.
Gene Hackman decided to become an actor when he was 26 years old and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. There, he struck a friendship with fellow actor Dustin Hoffman. Both of them were looked down upon, but they decided to prove others wrong. Hackman began to perform in several off-Broadway plays. His stage breakthrough came in 1964, when he was offered to co-star with Sandy Dennis in the play Any Wednesday. He broke into film starring in the 1964 drama Lilith, which also starred Warren Beatty. Beatty decided to cast Hackman in his next film, Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. Hackman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also featured on several television shows before he gained more fame in films. He was an extra in East Side/West Side, and had small roles in The Iron Horse and Hawk. In 193=69, he was cast opposite Robert Redford in Downhill Racer, as well as playing an astronaut in Marooned.
Hackman was once again nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in the film I Never Sang for My Father. In 1971, he was cast as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, which won him the Best Actor award. This was followed by leading roles in The Poseidon Adventure. He also became the star of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. He was also given a comedic role in Young Frankenstein, as well as being in the war film A Bridge Too Far in 1977. In 1978, he was cast as Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie, and in its sequel Superman II in 1980. He was nominated for Best Actor for playing Agent Rupert Anderson in 1988’s Mississippi Burning, and starred in films like Under Fire, Power and Bat*21. He next played the sheriff Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Western, Unforgiven. This won him a second Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor. He was also in Crimson Tide in 1995, and voiced a character in 1998’s animated movie Antz. In 2000, he was given the role of Jimmy McGinty in The Replacements, and has also starred in 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums and Runaway Jury in 2003.