The one thing about acting that terrified Gene Hackman: “I really started getting worried”
For the late Gene Hackman, acting seemed like second nature. No matter what he was in, whether that be The French Connection or The Royal Tenenbaums, the actor always gave a more than impressive performance, making him one of the finest stars of his generation. However, there was a time when he wasn’t the icon that we now know him as, starting out on various Off-Broadway plays.
Yet, with hard work and perseverance often comes pay-off, and for Hackman, dedicating himself to the theatre allowed him to hone the skills he needed to become a Hollywood star of the silver screen. He made his on-screen debut in the television series The United States Steel Hour, before landing an uncredited role in Mad Dog Coll in 1961. From there, roles came more regularly, and by 1967, he’d earned his first Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde.
This truly marked the beginning for Hackman, who came to dominate the 1970s with roles in The Conversation, Young Frankenstein, The French Connection (which he won an Oscar for), Night Moves and Superman. Impressing as a competent leading man or a compelling supporting actor, Hackman became hugely in-demand, and he picked his parts well.
Hackman won his second Oscar for Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven in 1992, and with a handful of other awards and widespread praise under his belt, the actor found himself sitting at the top of the Hollywood ranks. Yet, this worried Hackman sometimes, because he felt himself becoming the kind of actor he’d once looked up to as the ultimate symbol of Hollywood success. This might sound like a good thing, but there were elements of being this highly-regarded that scared him.
He explained to Film Comment, “The first big star I worked with, seven or eight years ago, was Burt Lancaster. And I found a lot of people would defer to him in ways that—I was from the theater, you know—that I’d wonder, ‘Why don’t they argue with him a little bit? What, is he gonna punch them out or something?’ No, not necessarily, because he’s a bright guy. But it’s just that you reach a certain level and people get frightened of your money or your power, or both, you know.”
As Hackman rose to Lancaster’s level, he realised that he could really get away with anything. “And when I found myself doing that, when I found myself getting my way without somebody really pushing against me, I really started getting worried. Because I think that’s one of the really dangerous things, when you get in a certain position of being able to say just anything, and people say: ‘Yeah, right, bring it in.’ That’s bad.”
However, Hackman remained self-aware in regards to his position in Hollywood, adding, “I’m consciously struggling with that. It’s easy not to do it. It’s much easier to play a little right of center, a little hard, you know, and you get your way. But you finally don’t get your way, because it finally comes back to haunt you.”
