Actor Gene Hackman left his mark on the Alberta film industry with roles in Unforgiven, Superman

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Actor Gene Hackman, the two-time Oscar winner whose career spanned more than 45 years, left an indelible mark on the Alberta film industry by starring in a number of locally shot films that included 1992’s Unforgiven, 1978’s Superman and 1972’s Prime Cut.

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Multiple sources reported Thursday morning that the actor was found dead alongside his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa were found dead Wednesday in their New Mexico home. Hackman was 95. Foul play is not suspected but an investigation continues and no cause of death has been revealed.

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While the actor was one of Hollywood’s most versatile performers, both a character actor and leading man, the films he shot in Alberta had him playing some of the silver screen’s most iconic villains.

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That includes his role of Little Bill Daggett in 1992’s Unforgiven, an Alberta-shot revisionist western directed by Clint Eastwood that was nominated for numerous Oscars — and landed Hackman his second — and is credited with giving the local film industry a significant boost in the early 1990s after some slim years. Hackman had a reputation for being a gruff and quiet presence on set, but was appreciative of the local talent that helped bring Eastwood’s film to life. Set decorator Janice Blackie-Goodine, who won also won an Oscar for her work on Unforgiven, remembers an exchange with the actor at a post-Academy Awards party in Hollywood.

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“Gene Hackman came over with his Oscar and put it on the table and said ‘I just want to thank you all for helping me win this,’” Blackie-Goodine told Postmedia in 2022.. ” . . .That meant a lot to us.“

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Hackman, who initially turned down the role due to the violent nature of his character, was said to have largely kept to himself on the Alberta set of the classic film, which was shot in Calgary, Brooks, High River and Drumheller.

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I was so green and so naive,” Canadian actor Jaimz Woolvett, who landed the major role of the near-sighted, would-be killer the Scofield Kid, told Postmedia in 2007.

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“I can remember seeing Gene Hackman sitting on the set. I looked at him and he nodded. Out of respect, or maybe idolatry, I said, ‘Hey listen if you want to run scenes or lines with me, that’s cool. That’s what I do.’ He just kind of looked at me and shook his head and subtly said no. I got it, it was like a gong to my head.”

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Richard Donner’s 1978 Calgary-based Superman, arguably the first blockbuster superhero movies, offered another iconic villainous role for Hackman, who played the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis Lex Luther in the film and in its 1981 sequel.

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He played a more chilling villain in the violent 1972 film Prime Cut opposite Lee Marvin and Sissy Spacek. The thriller, which was shot in Drumheller and Calgary, had him playing the vicious “Mary Ann,” the owner of a Kansas City meat-packing plant he uses as a front for human trafficking.

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Hackman was born in San Bernardino in 1930. He won his first Oscar for his lead performance in the crime drama the French Connection in 1972 and was nominated for his roles in 1968’s Bonnie and Clyde, 1971’s I Never Sang for my Father and 1989’s Mississippi Burning.

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He other films include 1986’s Hoosiers, 1987’s No Way Out, 1996’s Get Shorty and 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums.  He retired from acting in 2004.

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