A child of a broken home, Gene Hackman left home at 16 for a three-year hitch with the 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 in California (legend says that Hackman and 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 stage play "Any Wednesday." This role would lead to him being cast in the small role of Norman in Lilith, starring Warren Beatty. When Beatty was casting for Bonnie and Clyde, he cast Hackman as Buck Barrow, Clyde'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 I Never Sang for My Father. In 1972 he won the Oscar for his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection. At 40 years old, Hackman was a Hollywood star whose work would rise to the heights with Night Moves and Bite the Bullet or fall to the depths with The Poseidon Adventure and Eureka. Hackman is a versatile actor who can play comedy (the blind man in Young Frankenstein) or villainy t(he evil Lex Luthor in Superman). He is the doctor who puts his work above people in Extreme Measures and the captain on the edge of nuclear destruction in Crimson Tide. After initially turning down the role of Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Hackman finally accepted it as a different slant on the western that 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: An American Legend, Wyatt Earp and The Quick and the Dead.
The Quick and the Dead (1995): $1,300,000
Superman (1978): $2,000,000
Lucky Lady (1975): $1,250,000
The French Connection (1971): $100,000

Was the first choice to play Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch. He was the sixth choice to play Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. He lied about his age to join the Marines at 16 but left as soon as his initial 3 year tour was complete. While at the Pasadena Playhouse, Hackman and a classmate were voted "Least likely to succeed". The classmate was Dustin Hoffman. Was the first choice to play Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs. Was also offered the chance to direct The Silence of the Lambs. Turned down the part of President Franklin Roosevelt in Pearl Harbor, which went to Jon Voight. Jailed as a teen (c. 1946) for stealing candy & soda pop from a convenience store One of the most sustaining actors of all time, he still averages 2 films a year in his 70s, having starred in six in 2001 alone. Has stated that his performance in Scarecrow is his personal favorite. Often says he wants to quit acting in films, but that every time he has time off away from the set, he starts to miss it and wants to start another film. Revealed on Inside the Actors Studio that the two of the most important factors in deciding on which films he will work on are the script and the money. Was involved in a road-rage incident when two young men attacked him for hitting their car in Hollywood in 2001. Father of Christopher Hackman from his first marriage. Brother of Richard Hackman. Has appeared in three films adapted from novels by John Grisham: The Firm, The Chamber and Runaway Jury. Was in the Marine Corps. Toured in China. Based his role in The Conversation on one of his uncles and a fellow marine he had known well. He characterized the marine as someone "who probably became a serial killer." Dustin Hoffman came to New York after finishing his training at the Pasadena Playhouse. The two of them roomed together in New York at Hackman's one bedroom apartment on 2nd ½ and 26th Street. Hoffman slept on the kitchen floor. Originally, Hackman had offered to let him stay a few nights, but Hoffman would not leave. Hackman had to take him out to look for his own apartment. As roommates, Dustin Hoffman and Hackman would often go to the apartment rooftop and play the drums. Hoffman played the bongo drums while Hackman played the conga drums. They did it out of their love for Marlon Brando, who they had heard played music in clubs. They wanted to be like Brando and were big fans of his. Dustin Hoffman asked for the part of Rankin Fitch in Runaway Jury, which had gone to Gene Hackman. Hoffman admits to asking, "Can't you get rid of Gene and give me the part?" Runaway Jury was the first time he and former roommate Dustin Hoffman performed on the screen together. Met actor Dustin Hoffman in the first month at Pasadena Playhouse. Had several classes with him. Was admitted into the famed Pasadena Playhouse on the G.I. Bill. He failed out of it after 3 months and moved to New York to continue being a stage actor. Received one of the lowest grades the school had ever given (1.3 out of 10). He headed to New York with the intention of proving them wrong. Was the subject of the song "Gene Hackman" by Hoodoo Gurus. Turned down the lead roles in Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Appeared on Larry King Live on July 7th, 2004. Larry King was surprised to find out that Hackman had no movies lined up, and Hackman replied by saying that he thinks it is the end of his career. Says watching his own films makes him terribly nervous. Reportedly turned down the role of Randall Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Reportedly turned down one of the lead roles in Network. After he played Little Bill in Unforgiven, Hackman vowed not to appear in any more violent films. After he had been in violent films dating back to Bonnie and Clyde and The French Connection (in a role refused by Peter Boyle for the same reasons), he said he was fed up with them. Along with Margot Kidder, Hackman was appalled at the way Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, the producers of the first three Superman films and 1984's Supergirl film, had treated director Richard Donner, who had directed the first Superman and most of the second Superman film back-to-back before he was fired by the Salkinds over creative differences. Hackman, who said he only did the first two movies because of Richard Donner's persuasion, was so angry with the Salkinds that he vehemently refused to reprise the role of Lex Luthor in Superman III, while Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane, only appeared in a cameo role. Hackman was later persuaded to reprise the Luthor role in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Enjoys painting and writing fiction. Lives in New Mexico As a young man, Hackman attended a showing of the movie A Streetcar Named Desire and was impressed by the performance of Marlon Brando due to his naturalism and the fact that he didn't look like what a movie star typically looked like in the 1950s. After exiting the theater, he told his father that he wanted to be an actor. Even though he is no longer a cigarette smoker, he played the role of a chain- smoker in Heartbreakers. He was using a special kind of cigarettes that only gives heavy smoke without actually smoking. Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind because he was in a troubled marriage and could not spend 16 weeks outside of Los Angeles on location shooting. In a 2004 Vanity Fair story on him, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Duvall, Hackman said one of the worst memories of being a struggling actor, was working as a doorman in New York City. He recalled having seen former Marine officers pass him by when opening the door for them, of which one had said "Hackman, you're a sorry son of a bitch." While a struggling actor in New York City, he worked as a soda jerk in a pharmacy and as a furniture mover. After flunking out of the Pasadena Playhouse and moving to New York City with fellow drop-out Dustin Hoffman, Hackman worked at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Times Square as a doorman. One day, a Pasadena Playhouse acting teacher whom Hackman hated walked by him, stopped, and told him that he had been right, that Hackman would never amount to anything. In Robert Osborne's "Academy Awards 1972 Oscar Annual," Hackman is quoted as saying Errol Flynn was his boyhood idol. Suffered a severe heart attack in 1990, and underwent successful angioplasty surgery. Was voted "Least Likely to Succeed" in college. Is one of only a few actors to win an Oscar for a supporting role after winning an Oscar for a leading role. (Others to do so are Jack Nicholson and Helen Hayes) In the Superman movies, he didn't like the idea of going bald for his role as Lex Luthor. He was allowed to wear wigs instead, and was convinced to wear a bald cap in only a few scenes. Has played three fictional Presidents. He plays President Alan Richmand in Absolute Power. His Superman character, Lex Luthor, became President of the United States in the year 2000, in the DC Comics. He also played President Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport. Hackman replaced George Segal in the role of Kibby in the notorious flop Lucky Lady. Possibly anticipating that the film would be a turkey, Segal bailed out of the production and Hackman was brought in at the last-minute. The desperate producers paid Hackman -- riding high from the huge box office success of The Poseidon Adventure, a reported $1.2 million for his role, $500,000 more than Segal's going-rate. Hackman knew Reynolds from starring in the first episode of Burt's short-lived 1966 TV series Hawk. The movie about rum-runners in love with the same gal proved a wash-out at the box office. His performance as Harry Caul in "The Conversation" (1974) is ranked #37 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Served in the United States Marine Corps . Hackman has said that the failure of Scarecrow turned him off of art films due to the disappointment of working hard and well on a film that many think is a small classic, but that tanked at the box office and failed to garner any awards. After this flop, Hackman mainly concentrated on acting for money, turning down such films as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Network" for roles in films like "March and Die" and "Lucky Lady" that offered him fatter paychecks. Thus, he squandered his chance of becoming a true acting immortal (he certainly had the talent and opportunity) by concentrating on mediocre films, having lost the "fire in the belly" after making it -- and making his first million dollars -- in the early '70s.