Gene Hackman names one of his only career regrets
Even though it’s been 20 years since his last feature film appearance and subsequent retirement from acting, Gene Hackman hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down completely, even into his 90s.
Focusing his time and efforts on his secondary career as a writer and novelist, Hackman has seen several works published since he announced the end of a legendary silver screen career, even if it’s rather unfortunate Ray Romano’s panned box office flop Welcome to Mooseport remains the final credit on such an illustrious filmography.
Of course, decades of phenomenal performances in countless classics ensured that Hackman was hardly going to be defined by his cinematic swansong, having won two Academy Awards from five nominations to go along with four Golden Globes, three Baftas, and a string of other accolades.
Marlon Brando may have detested Hackman to the point he branded him as the worst actor in Hollywood, but that’s not an opinion shared by many. He’s regarded as one of the very best to ever do it for a multitude of very good and entirely accurate reasons, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t harbour some regrets over his time in the spotlight.
Hackman was satisfied with his contributions to cinema, though, but it was focusing his efforts on film at the expense of treading the boards that stuck with him. When pressed by Charlie Rose in a 1999 interview as to whether there was any part of his professional life he actively regretted, The French Connection star was quick to answer.
“I wish that maybe in the ’80s – the late ’70s and early ’80s – that I had moved back to New York and kept more in touch with the theatre,” he explained. “So that I could have maybe expanded my craft and kept more in touch with what acting means to me”. During that period, he was nothing short of prolific, meaning that he didn’t have a lot of time to indulge his love of the stage.
After a lean 1976 that didn’t see him appear on-screen at all, Hackman would rack up 11 credits between 1977 and 1983, keeping him plenty busy at a time when he ended up retrospectively wishing he’d relocated from California back to his old stomping grounds. On the other hand, maybe it wouldn’t have been fair to his peers had Hackman expanded his craft and returned to movies with an even better actor than before.
The one and only time Hackman ever returned to the stage following his industry breakthrough in the 1960s came in 1992 when he co-starred with Glenn Close and Richard Dreyfuss in Mike Nichols’ production of Death and the Maiden on Broadway, so he did at least make it back to New York eventually, more than a decade after he wished he had.
