Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, shared a peaceful and private life, rich in adventure, art and genuine love, before their unexpected deaths, their friends fondly remember.
Their close, longtime friends, Daniel and Barbara Lenihan said the couple, who was found dead Wednesday in their New Mexico home, had chosen to live in a quiet area, tucked away inside a home they built atop 12 acres of land up in the mountains just outside of Santa Fe.
“They were very private, and we certainly respected that,” Barbara told CNN, adding that Arakawa rarely used cell phones and would usually communicate by email.
“They were really by themselves, which is the way they wanted it.”
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The two couples met over 30 years ago when Hackman and Arakawa were visiting Santa Fe and stopped by a diving shop, where Hackman saw a drawing of the USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor that Daniel, an underwater archaeologist, had mapped. Hackman wanted to meet Daniel, so the four of them went to lunch together and immediately hit it off, “and it was history from there,” Barbara said.
She and Arakawa co-founded Pandora’s, a home decor and furnishing store in Santa Fe featuring fabrics from all over the world, as well as the work of local artisans. The two girlfriends were inspired to launch the business after Hackman returned from central Europe where he was filming a movie in 2001 and brought back “beautiful linen pillows,” Barbara said.
She had last seen Arakawa three weeks ago at Pandora’s, but said the couple did not come to town very often.
“They were very, fairly isolated, when you look at the pictures of the woods and their home, so that was not unusual at all to have not heard (from them),” Barbara said.
“He wasn’t leaving much. Betsy was a wonderful wife. They were very close, and she was a good cook and really, really took good care of him,” Barbara added. “They ate very well. He had had a triple bypass, maybe around (age) 60, and he’d been in really good health since then, and I’m sure she was one of those factors.”
Until a year ago, Hackman was still riding his bicycle and Arakawa “had him doing yoga and different things at home on Zoom and trying to stay very fit,” Barbara said.
When the pair would host the Lenihans at their home, Hackman would often ask Arakawa to play classical pieces on the piano, and she was equally supportive of his accomplishments, Barbara said. They loved to travel and were well-liked in their community, she added.
Gene Hackman, right, and his longtime friend, Daniel Lenihan, pictured in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1999. Sarah Martone/Associated Press
Daniel, who wrote three books with Hackman over a period of around 10 years, said he’ll remember him as an “interesting, funny, very intelligent man,” while Barbara described Arakawa as “clever and witty and fun.”
“We’re very stunned, and we have no idea what happened, but there were never any issues between them,” Barbara said. “Our son was saying today, he’s maybe never seen such a compatible couple.”
Santa Fe community honors couple
The legendary actor, his wife and their dog were found dead in circumstances officials deemed “suspicious enough” to warrant thorough investigation. The couple’s bodies were found in separate rooms in their Santa Fe house, with scattered pills found next to Arakawa, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Data from Hackman’s pacemaker shows he was likely dead for nine days before he and his wife were found dead at their New Mexico home, authorities said.
Hackman, 95, was an Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in films such as “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers, “Unforgiven” and “The Firm.” Arakawa, three decades Hackman’s junior, was a classical pianist.
The causes of death are not yet known. The pair did not show any external trauma, and there were no immediate signs of foul play, according to preliminary autopsies and officials. There were also no immediate signs of a carbon monoxide or natural gas leak, authorities said.
The home where the couple was found is in a gated community at the end of a long, curving driveway. It was a fitting home for the reclusive star, featuring expansive views of nearby mountains but secluded enough to be largely out of the range of cell phone service.
Hackman and Arakawa moved to the Santa Fe area more than a decade before he effectively retired from acting at age 74. “It had a kind of magic in it,” he told Architectural Digest in 1990.
Law enforcement officials talk outside the home of actor Gene Hackman on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their wife were found dead in the home a day earlier. Roberto Rosales/AP
Hackman was “a treasured New Mexico resident,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday in a Facebook post, adding that he lived in Santa Fe “as a low-key and friendly member of our community” and was a beloved neighbor to many.
“Gene’s extraordinary Oscar-winning career brought characters to life with unmatched authenticity, and we were all proud to call him our neighbor,” Grisham said. “New Mexico mourns the loss of this brilliant actor and longtime New Mexican. Manny and I extend our condolences to Gene’s family, friends and fans all around the world.”
“He treated everybody well and with graciousness and respect. The same with Betsy,” Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber told NBC. “These are two people who have huge, huge talent, gifts, global reputations, and yet here in Santa Fe they’re just down-to-earth people, part of the community.”
The couple was often spotted in Sante Fe at their favorite restaurants or at Arakawa’s shop, and everyone in town has “a favorite story, a favorite memory, a huge amount of fondness and affection for both of them,” Webber said.
Hackman, who enjoyed painting in addition to writing, was very involved with the art world, often gifting art to friends.
Another one of Hackman’s friends, Stuart Ashman, remembers coming across the actor at a community arts gathering, a coincidental meeting that resulted in over 20 years of friendship, according to BBC.
The pair also attended Pilates classes together, and Hackman often got in trouble for talking too much, Ashman joked.
“Gene, are you going to workout or do you just want to talk to Stuart today?” Ashman recalls their Pilates teacher asking.
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Ashman said he raised chickens and would often bring a dozen eggs to Hackman, who one day returned the kind gesture with a large landscape painting he made for Ashman.
“He was so down to earth that you didn’t realize that you were talking to a celebrity. He was more interested in you than in telling you about himself,” Ashman told BBC.
Hackman also regularly donated his artwork for auctions, his friends say.
“We just went to a big cancer auction on Valentine’s that had some of the most prominent artists around donating pieces, and Gene always donated a piece,” Barbara Lenihan added. “A couple years ago, he had a really nice piece, we didn’t even know he was doing it, and they were chuckling and saying he always runs in with the paint still wet that afternoon to hang it on the wall.”
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe issued a statement on Thursday saying it is “deeply saddened” by the passing of Hackman and Arakawa.
“From 1997 to 2004, Gene served on the Museum’s Board of Trustees, playing a vital role in shaping the Museum’s early years,” the statement read. “Beyond his role as a Trustee, Gene contributed to the Museum in meaningful ways, notably as the narrator of the Perry Miller Adato film, Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life in Art. The Museum is grateful for his commitment to sharing Georgia O’Keeffe’s legacy and their deep support of the arts and cultural initiatives.”
Hackman had spoken at the grand opening of the O’Keeffe Museum in 1997 saying, “In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I’ve been taken with the excitement and indomitable spirit of this place,” the Santa Fe New Mexican reported in 2022.
In 2011, GQ asked Hackman how he wanted to be remembered.
“As a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what was given to them in an honest fashion,” he told the magazine. When asked to sum up his life in a phrase, he said: “‘He tried.’ I think that’d be fairly accurate.”
