What was Gene Hackman's first film?
2476317#0
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.
French Connection II
39826036#11
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.
The Firm (1993 film)
12561#8
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. That same year, Hackman appeared in what became one of his most famous comedic roles as The Blindman in "Young Frankenstein".
Gene Hackman
42148#7
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.
Dustin Hoffman
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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.
Gene Hackman
12561#16
Hackman starred in the David Mamet crime film "Heist", as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job and the comedy "Heartbreakers" alongside Sigourney Weaver, Ray Liotta and Jennifer Love Hewitt. He had a small part as Arnold Margolese in Gore Verbinski's "The Mexican". He also had a leading role as the head of an eccentric family in the ensemble cast film "The Royal Tenenbaums" and in yet another Grisham legal drama, "Runaway Jury", at long last getting to make a picture with his longtime friend Dustin Hoffman. Hackman's final film to date was "Welcome to Mooseport" (2004), a comedy with Ray Romano, when he portrayed a former President of the United States.
Gene Hackman
74375#1
Gene Hackman stars as Norman Dale, a new coach with a spotty past. The film co-stars Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper, whose role as the basketball-loving town drunk earned him an Oscar nomination. Jerry Goldsmith was also nominated for an Academy Award for his score. In 2001, "Hoosiers" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Hoosiers (film)
12561#6
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", 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". 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", but was advised by his agent to decline in exchange for a more promising role, which he did.
Gene Hackman
12561#1
He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in "Bonnie and Clyde", when he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His major subsequent films include: "I Never Sang for My Father" (1970), when he received his second Best Supporting Actor nomination; "The French Connection" (1971) and "French Connection II" (1975), when he played Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle; "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972); "The Conversation" (1974); "Superman: The Movie" (1978), when he played arch-villain Lex Luthor; "Hoosiers" (1986); and "Mississippi Burning" (1988), when he received his second Best Actor nomination.
Gene Hackman
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In 1956 he began pursuing an acting career; he joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, they were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed.". Furthermore, Hackman got the all time lowest score at the Pasadena Playhouse at the time. Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman moved to New York City. A 2004 article in "Vanity Fair" described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling California born actors and close friends, sharing apartments in various two-person combinations while living in New York City in the 1960s. To support himself between acting jobs, he was working as a uniformed doorman at a Howard Johnson restaurant in New York when, as bad luck would have it, he ran into a despised Pasadena Playhouse instructor who once told him he was not good enough to be an actor. Reinforcing "The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man said to him, "See, Hackman, I told you you wouldn't amount to anything." From then on, Hackman was determined to become the finest actor he possibly could. The three former roommates have since earned 19 Academy Award nominations for acting, with five wins.
Gene Hackman