Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: What was Gene Hackman's first film?
Hackman got various bit roles, for example on the TV series Route 66 in 1963, and began performing in several Off-Broadway plays. In 1964 he had an offer to co-star in the play Any Wednesday with actress Sandy Dennis. This opened the door to film work. His first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. In 1967 he appeared in an episode of the television series The Invaders entitled The Spores. Another supporting role, Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde,[13] earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1968 he appeared in an episode of I Spy, in the role of "Hunter", in the episode "Happy Birthday... Everybody". In 1968 he starred in the CBS Playhouse episode "My Father and My Mother" and the dystopian television film Shadow on the Land.[20] In 1969 he played a ski coach in Downhill Racer and an astronaut in Marooned. Also that year, he played a member of a barnstorming skydiving team that entertained mostly at county fairs, a movie which also inspired many to pursue skydiving and has a cult-like status amongst skydivers as a result: The Gypsy Moths. He nearly accepted the role of Mike Brady for the TV series, The Brady Bunch,[21] but was advised by his agent to decline in exchange for a more promising role, which he did.
While at the gym in 1988, his brother Joe asked him to meet with actor Gene Hackman, who was doing research for the film "Split Decisions". Soon afterward the two became friends, and the actor hired Goossen to work as his stand-in. Hackman had written into his contracts that Goossen would serve as his stand-in for every film he did. Goossen appeared in 15 of Hackman's movies between 1989 and 2003, including "Unforgiven", "The Firm", "Get Shorty" and "Wyatt Earp".
His first acting role was at the Pasadena Playhouse, alongside future Academy Award–winner Gene Hackman. After two years there, Hackman headed for New York City, with Hoffman soon following. Hoffman, Hackman, and Robert Duvall lived together in the 1960s, all three of them focused on finding acting jobs. Hackman remembers, "The idea that any of us would do well in films simply didn't occur to us. We just wanted to work." During this period, Hoffman got occasional television bit parts, including commercials but, needing income, he briefly left acting to teach.
Gene Hackman based his portrayal of Sheriff Daggett on Gates in the 1992 film "Unforgiven". Clint Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel, who was on the set, wrote that Hackman referred to Daggett overseeing Ned Logan's torture as "my Rodney King scene".
A fictional version of Stewart's murder was told in the 1983 film, "Under Fire", starring Gene Hackman, Nick Nolte, and Joanna Cassidy. Hackman's "Alex Grazier" and Nolte's "Russell Price" are amalgamations of Bill Stewart's life and career as a journalist and war correspondent. In the film, Stewart's death is presented differently: Hackman's character is shot in the chest while standing up, and his death is captured in a series of still images by Nolte's character, who escapes from the scene in a hail of gunfire. As in Stewart's case, the images are shown to television audiences around the world, and the public outcry signals the end for the embattled Somoza dictatorship.
The movie was highly fictionalized and very successful. The character based on Egan, Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, was played by Gene Hackman who won an Academy Award for his performance (the film also won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Editing). The character was called "Popeye" because that was Egan's nickname in real life. Egan played a role in the movie as Hackman's supervisor, Simonson. Egan and Grosso were also technical advisors. Hackman reprised this role in the sequel film "French Connection II" in 1975, which depicts a fictionalized story.
"The Silence of the Lambs" is based on Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name and is the second film to feature the character Hannibal Lecter following the 1986 film "Manhunter". Prior to the novel's release, Orion Pictures partnered with Gene Hackman to bring the novel to the big screen. With Hackman set to direct and possibly star in the role of Crawford, negotiations were made to split the $500,000 cost of rights between Hackman and the studio. In addition to securing the rights to the novel, producers also had to acquire the rights to the name "Hannibal Lecter", which were owned by "Manhunter" producer Dino De Laurentiis. Owing to the financial failure of the earlier film, De Laurentiis lent the character rights to Orion Pictures for free.
Then came "Eureka", a drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It stars Gene Hackman, Theresa Russell, Rutger Hauer, Joe Pesci and Mickey Rourke. Spinell had a non-speaking small role as one of several thugs who murder Hackman's character in the middle of the film.
Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle is a fictional character portrayed by actor Gene Hackman in the films "The French Connection" (1971) and its sequel, "French Connection II" (1975), and by Ed O'Neill in the 1986 television film "Popeye Doyle". Hackman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in "The French Connection". The character is based on a real-life New York City police detective, Eddie Egan, who also appeared in the film as Walt Simonson, Doyle's supervisor. Doyle, as played by Hackman in "The French Connection", is ranked number 44 as a hero on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains list.
He followed this with leading roles in the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), which was nominated for several Oscars.[13] That same year, Hackman appeared in what became one of his most famous comedic roles as The Blindman in Young Frankenstein.[22]
Film critic Blake Lucas makes the case that "The Narrow Margin" reflects the "noir view" of an unstable and deceiving moral reality.The film was remade as "Narrow Margin" with Anne Archer and Gene Hackman in 1990. It was directed by Peter Hyams. Hackman's performance was praised, but the later version is generally considered a lesser work compared to the original movie.
Gene Hackman initially did not want to do the film, but 20th Century Fox kept offering him more and more money. Finally, Fox offered him $1.25 million, and according to talent agent Sue Mengers, "it was almost obscene for him not to do the film." "I was seduced," said Hackman.
In the 1981 film "Superman II", actor Gene Hackman, who had finished the majority of his scenes playing Lex Luthor, left the project following the departure of the film's original director, Richard Donner. After replacement director Richard Lester took over production, a Shemp was used for Hackman to finish his remaining scenes. This was accomplished by an uncredited actor standing in for Hackman, though not ever facing the camera, while also impersonating Hackman's voice.
After first reading the script, Payne thought of Bruce Dern for the role of the elderly father Woody Grant. As casting for the film began, Payne met with over fifty actors. Because Paramount demanded a big star, Gene Hackman, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Forster were initially short listed for the role. Hackman had retired, and Duvall and De Niro were indisposed on other projects. Payne eventually considered Dern again. The director chose this actor because, as he said:
His film roles during the 1990s featured: Unforgiven (1992); The Firm (1993); The Quick and the Dead; Crimson Tide (1995); Get Shorty (1995); The Birdcage (1996); and Enemy of the State (1998) Later roles included: Behind Enemy Lines (2001); and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Hackman's final film appearance to date was the romantic comedy film Welcome to Mooseport in 2004, co-starring comedian Ray Romano.
The porkpie hat enjoyed a slight resurgence in exposure and popularity after Gene Hackman's character Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle wore one in the 1971 film "The French Connection". Doyle was based on real-life policeman Eddie Egan, who played the captain in the film, and his exploits. Egan was famous all his life for wearing a pork pie hat, and refused to surrender his hat to Gene Hackman to wear in the film. The producers were forced to obtain Hackman's hat elsewhere. At about the same time, Robert De Niro wore a pork pie hat in the 1973 film "Mean Streets" (the same hat he wore when he auditioned for the film).
The title of "First to Fight" was derived from the US military practice of sending in United States Marines first in attacks. The film features an early career appearance by future Academy Award winner Gene Hackman as Sgt. Tweed, already having starring in a breakthrough role in "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).
Gene Hackman's name did not appear on the film's release poster. Hackman joined the film late, when it was already well into production, because the producers had originally wanted to change the gender of the character and cast Meryl Streep, until author John Grisham objected and Hackman was eventually cast. Tom Cruise's deal with Paramount already stated that only his name could appear above the title. Hackman also wanted his name to appear above the credits, but when this was refused he asked for his name to be removed completely from the poster. Hackman's name does appear in the end credits.
Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise were considered for the part that went to Will Smith, who took the role largely because he wanted to work with Gene Hackman, and had previously enjoyed working with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on "Bad Boys". George Clooney was also considered for a role in the film. Sean Connery was considered for the role that went to Hackman. The film's crew included a technical surveillance counter-measures consultant who also had a minor role as a spy shop merchant. Hackman had previously acted in a similar thriller about spying and surveillance, "The Conversation" (1974). The photo in Edward Lyle's NSA file is of Hackman in "The Conversation."
Hackman's first marriage was to Faye Maltese.[38] They had three children: Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Hackman.[39] The couple divorced in 1986 after three decades of marriage.[40] In 1991 he married Betsy Arakawa.[41][42] They have a home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[43]
French Connection II is a 1975 crime drama film starring Gene Hackman and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictional sequel to the initially true story of the 1971 Academy Award winning picture "The French Connection". The film expands on the central character of Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle who travels to Marseille, France where he is attempting to track down French drug-dealer Alain Charnier, who escaped at the end of the first film. Hackman won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the original "The French Connection" and he and Fernando Rey are the only returning cast members.
With "Mississippi Burning" (1988), Parker received his second Oscar nomination for Best Director. The film is based on a true story about the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964, and stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. Hackman was nominated for Best Actor, while the film was nominated for five other Oscars, including Best Picture. It won for Best Cinematography.
It was the first R-rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture since the introduction of the MPAA film rating system in 1968. It also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Hackman), Best Director (Friedkin), Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Tidyman). It was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Scheider), Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing. Tidyman also received a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Writers Guild of America Award and an Edgar Award for his screenplay. A sequel, "French Connection II", followed in 1975 with Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey reprising their roles.
Hackman, Gene, and Daniel Lenihan. New York: Newmarket Press, 1999. ISBN978-1-557-04398-6. Hackman, Gene, and Daniel Lenihan. New York: St. Martins Press, 2004. ISBN978-0-312-32425-4. Hackman, Gene, and Daniel Lenihan. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008. ISBN978-0-312-36373-4. Hackman, Gene. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc, 2011. ISBN978-1-451-62356-7. Hackman, Gene. New York: Pocket Books, 2013. ISBN978-1-451-62357-4.
Welcome to Mooseport is a 2004 American political satire comedy film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Ray Romano, in his first full-length live-action film, and Gene Hackman, in his final film appearance to date. It was filmed in Jackson's Point, Ontario and Port Perry, Ontario.