Exploring Gene Hackman’s Home Renovation Passion and Privacy Retreat, Where He Passed Away Alongside Wife Betsy Arakawa and Their Dog

Hollywood star Gene Hackman’s passion for home renovation is evident in his 12-acre plot where he was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa.

Gene Hackman, a two-time winner of the Academy Award, celebrated his 95th birthday last month. His fortune is estimated at $3.8 million (£3 million). Hackman had a collection of homes that he had renovated and revamped.

Among these properties, two were located on a single piece of land where Hackman and his wife, who got married in 1991, were discovered along with their pet dog on a Wednesday morning. Reports from local media stated that there were no suspicions of foul play.

In 1990, Hackman acquired the compound mainly because of its breathtaking location. With panoramic views that extended all the way to the Colorado mountains, it was an ideal setting for Hackman to invest his time and energy into.

After renovating a home already on the site, he built a second in 2000. It is still not known which property the pair were found in.

In recent years Hackman retreated to the compound following years of Hollywood success. 

He was attracted to Sante Fe after working on several of movies in New Mexico’s capital saying the area ‘had a kind of magic in it’.

At the time, the home renovation in 1990 was the star’s tenth with other projects of his being in Montecito and California. He also owned his own island just off the coast of Washington.

‘I think it’s like being an actor. I interpret what’s already there,’ he told Architectural Digest.

He added: ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I guess I like the process, and when it’s over, it’s over.’ 

After buying the land, he called upon Santa Fe architects Harry Daple and Stephen Samuelson of Studio Arquitectura to help create his vision.

‘The house was horrible,’ said Samuelson. ‘It was a 1950s block building that had sat empty and had deteriorated. But it was a great site, and the foundation had been well placed on the land.’ 

Hackman and his wife Betsey transformed the home into a lighter space with open spaces and French doors.

They were not interested in recreating native pueblo architecture. ‘It’s not purist at all,’ Samuelson added. ‘It’s more primitive, like a barn converted into a house, massive and cozy at the same time.’

The majority of the roof was removed to allow the ceiling to be raised while walls were knocked down throughout making three smaller rooms into the centerpiece of the house.

Acting as the main living area, it had tree-trunk columns, comfy sofas, and a modern stereo system to fill the home with music.

Hackman revealed he wanted a ‘great-hall feeling’ with rooms opening off it and ‘not closed off’ by walls.  

He admitted it was ‘totally different’ to his other homes, including his Montecito house which he described as ‘very formal’.

Hackman was said to be involved in every aspect of renovation and even helped out with the demolition. He also mixed paints to show workmen the exact colour he wanted for the home.

While Hackman was away filming, Betsy remained on site while the renovations went ahead. She would consult Hackman by phone and send him photographs of the work in progress.

Samuelson said he was a ‘deeply involved client, very artistic, very keen on details’.  

The home was furnished with antiques from around the world and was designed to be a ‘haven’ for when Hackman wasn’t away filming. 

He was fixed on an authentic look blending Santa Fe furnishings with other items bought from auctions in New York and antique shops in Los Angeles and even Germany.

Hackman had not starred in a movie since 2004, when he played Monroe ‘Eagle’ Cole in the political satire Welcome to Mooseport. 

He announced his retirement from acting that year, leaving Los Angeles for a quieter life in New Mexico – and resisting any overtures to return in front of the camera.

Hackman told of how his decision was influenced by the strain he suffered when acting, as well as health issues concerning his heart.

He told of receiving a health warning from a doctor, while saying in a statement at the time: ‘The business for me is very stressful.’

He had previously undergone surgery after facing problems with his heart – having been rushed to the hospital with chest pain and needing to have a balloon catheter inserted to help open an artery that had dangerously narrowed.

Hackman moved in the 1980s to the area of Santa Fe, where he was often seen around town and served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper The New Mexican. 

Rare recent pictures of Hackman showed him holding on to his wife’s arm for balance as the pair grabbed a bite at Pappadeaux’s Seafood Kitchen in Santa Fe in March last year.

The couple’s outing marked the first time they were seen together in public for 21 years, with the previous time being at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards where he won the Cecil B. deMille award.

After leaving the spotlight, Hackman settled in Santa Fe where he also took up fishing, painting, and writing – and penned three historical fiction novels with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, as well as two books on his own.

In 2011, he was asked by GQ whether he would ever come out of retirement to do one more film – to which Hackman responded: ‘If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.’

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has today confirmed Hackman and his wife were found dead along with their dog on Wednesday afternoon in their Santa Fe home – saying they did not believe that foul play was a factor at this time.

A police statement shared with the PA news agency said: ‘On February 26 2025 at approximately 1.45pm, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased.

‘Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time – however, exact cause of death has not been determined. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.’

As well as his two Oscars, Hackman also clinched two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award in an acting career which spanned six decades. 

He secured the Oscar for Best Actor in 1972 for his role as Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in The French Connection, before taking the Best Supporting Actor prize for his part in 1992 western Unforgiven. 

Hackman, born in California in 1930, left home at age 16 to enlist in the marine corps and served from 1947 to 1952 as a field radio operator and then as a broadcast journalist.

He went on to study journalism and television production at the University of Illinois, but later pivoted to pursue an acting career. 

Hackman had a few TV and theatre roles before breaking through with his performance in 1967’s Bonnie And Clyde, which starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the title roles.

That display as Clyde Barrow’s brother Buck landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He also achieved Oscar nods for his role in 1970’s I Never Sang For My Father and 1988’s thriller Mississippi Burning.

Hackman also portrayed supervillain Lex Luthor in the 1978 Superman film starring Christopher Reeve in the eponymous role and Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Superman’s biological father.

He reprised the role for its subsequent sequels, 1980’s Superman II and 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. 

Hackman acted opposite many Hollywood heavyweights including Al Pacino in 1973’s Scarecrow.

He also appeared alongside Gene Wilder in 1974’s Young Frankenstein – the pair also having performed together in Bonnie And Clyde – as well as Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton in 1981’s Reds.

His other notable roles included the hit movies The Poseidon Adventure from 1972, 1974’s The Conversation and Runaway Jury in 2003.

Hackman also featured in the star-studded cast of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001, three years before his final film role.