Aged 95, at home with his wife and dog (sounds suspicious, but probably a gas or carbon monoxide problem - time will tell). Double Academy Award-winning actor with about a million movies to his credit (he was doing 2-5 movies/year in the 1980s and 1990s). His big break-out role was alongside Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as a member of the gang in Bonnie and Clyde.
Followed it up a few roles later with his Best Actor performance, with Roy Scheider in The French Connection.
Then made the rest of his 79 career movies. Not counting TV roles and plays by the dozen. (If, for one example, you haven't seen March Or Die, it's apparently temporarily available in full and free with ads on YouTube. Great Foreign Legion flick.) Even in mediocre roles or movies, (and most of his were anything but that) Hackman could always be counted on for an eminently watchable performance, and could captivate an audience in even a small role, and probably just reading a cereal box.
Phenomenal actor with a monumental body of work over 4 decades in Hollywood, and with the good grace to generally keep his personal opinions to himself, and focus on being a great actor, a trait far too rare in many lesser lights (and beside him, most of Hollywood is a lesser light). Most of SAG-AFTRA heaved a sigh of relief when he retired in 2004, because it meant any five other actors could finally get some work.
