Unexpected layers!
Gene Hackman was prolific in his work & was in a large number of well known movies. Not only that, it was a mix of genres. He was Buck Barrow (Clyde Barrow's elder brother) in the Warren Beatty-Faye Dunnaway movie Bonnie & Clyde. Bonnie & Clyde was not the only "classic" Hackman was in, having also been in the French Connection & the Poseidon Adventure. Hackman was Lex Luthor in Superman & Superman II, both starring Christopher Reeves. There were a couple of sports movies along the way - Hoosiers (which focused on basketball) & The Replacements (which followed a football team). There were dramas - Mississippi Burning, Absolute Power, The Mexican, Get Shorty. Then there are the westerns - Wyatt Earp, the Unforgiven, The Quick & the Dead, Geronimo: An American Legend. We also got to see Hackman showcase as sense of humor by doing The Birdcage, Young Frankenstein, The Royal Tenenbaums, & Welcome to Mooseport. A good chunk of his movies were also based on books - Postcards from the Edge, The Chamber, Crimson Tide, Runaway Jury, The Firm.
Over the years, Hackman has received his fair share of awards.
2 Academy Awards - Best Actor for The French Connection in 1972 & Best Supporting Actor of Unforgiven in 1993.
2 BAFTAs - Best Actor in a Leading Role for both The French Connection & The Poseiden Adventure in 1973 & Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Unforgiven in 1992.
3 Golden Globes - Best Actor, Motion Picture Drama for The French Connection; Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture for Unforgiven in 1993, & Best Actor, Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for The Royal Tenenbaums in 2002.
1 Screen Actors Guild Award - Outstanding performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for The Birdcage in 1997.
The Quincy Public Library has access to the movies mentioned above, in addition to the books that a few of the movies are based upon. (And of course - Hoopla, Kanopy, & Libby can provide access for those who prefer to go the digital route.)
A few things that might have flown under the radar about Gene Hackman:
Hackman was good friends with fellow actors Dustin Hoffman & Robert Duvall, the three of them coming up in the movie industry at the same time.
Somehow he had made his way onto Richard Nixon's enemies list. (Yes, President Nixon & people around him kept a list of people that they considered to be "enemies." This covered politics, labor, celebrities, business, academics, among other things.)
Hackman participated in auto racing. In 1983, he participated in the 24 Hours of Daytona Endurance Race & at one point, he won the Long Beach Celebrity Grand Prix, which ran from 1996 to 2008. Hackman was also a cyclist & he remained active, despite having a collision with a pickup truck in 2012.
He was also very interested in design & architecture. Hackman had created and/or restored over 10 homes, two of which were featured in Architectural Digest.
After retiring from the film industry, Hackman wrote a couple of books - Wake of the Perdido Star, Escape from Andersonville, Payback at Morning Peak, & Pursuit.
If anything there catches your fancy or has provided inspiration, the Quincy Public Library can help. The library has materials on politics, on Richard Nixon, on bicycles & cycling, on design & architecture, on New Mexico. QPL also has access to the books that Gene Hackman wrote.
