The Probert Encyclopaedia of Actors

GENE HACKMAN

Gene Hackman is an American actor. He was born in 1931 at San Bernardino, California. The son of a pressman who moved his family east to Danville, Illinois, Hackman joined the Marines at 16, and in four years served in China, Japan, Hawaii, and Okinawa. After his discharge, he enrolled at the University of Illinois and then attended the School of Radio Technique in New York: Returning to California, he decided to pursue an acting career and joined the Pasadena Playhouse. Hackman began his professional career off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in Irwin Shaw's 'Children at Their Games', for which he won a Clarence Derwent Award. His first Broadway hit was Any Wednesday in 1964, the year he made his film debut in Robert Rossen's Lilith. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Arthur Penn's 1967 'Bonnie and Clyde', and again for Gilbert Cate's 1969 'I Never Sang for My Father'. He won an Oscar as best actor for his work in William Friedkin's 1971 'The French Connection', and also appeared in John
Frankenheimer's sequel the 1975 'The French Connection II'.
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