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Gene Hackman has died
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoRest in peace. Three deaths (counting the dog) and no foul play. Carbon monoxide?
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y agoCO poisoning during cold still weather is not uncommon in old/poor houses heated by gas or oil here in western Europe. What is the weather like in, I assume California, now?
- echelon_musk 2y ago> I assume California TFA states they lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y agoMy mistake. I read Santa Fe elsewhere without the state attached and must have skimmed over it here.
- canucker2016 2y agoThe house is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/816924/inside-gene-hackman-santa-fe-home-with-wife-betsy/ https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/816924/inside-gene-hackm... Santa Fe weather seems to be daytime high around 10C, nighttime low around 0C, maybe a few degrees below 0C these days.
- reginald78 2y agoSeems odd it is still fairly common, don't most people have detectors at this point?
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoYes but people forget to check them. A new threat could be cheapo detectors from Amazon. I bought a house recently and the fire marshall had them replace all their Amazon crap detectors with the real deal.
- alabastervlog 2y agoShitty detectors; people simply forget to check on them or don't bother to install one in the first place or don't even know they should have one; expired detectors that don't work anymore but also don't alert that they're non-functional. Plus, older people tend to get worse at maintaining out-of-the-way stuff like that, more forgetful, harder to get around, may visit entire sections of their house (like a basement) almost never so just forget about it or don't notice signs that something needs to be replaced or repaired. Check on your parents' smoke and CO detectors next time you visit!
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y agoNo.
- rcleveng 2y agoAnd even if they do have them, they degrade over time and only last around 10 years tops. It's quite possible that the ones they had failed, and failed silently. Such as loss.
- gosub100 2y agoAlso people who warm up in idling cars, in semi confined spaces,on nights with no breeze. I've seen a couple local news stories of this. It's very sad.
- bitwize 2y agoThat's what I thought of. "Weird Al" Yankovic's parents were both found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning about 15 years back in a very similar fashion.
- canucker2016 2y agoFormer tennis pro, Vitas Gerulaitis, died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty propane heater. https://www.atptour.com/en/players/vitas-gerulaitis/g008/bio https://www.atptour.com/en/players/vitas-gerulaitis/g008/bio
- dehrmann 2y agoI bought my parents a few CO detectors for Christmas a few years ago. I reminded them that they don't have any gas appliances, but they do heat with wood.
- MrBuddyCasino 2y agoDrop your favourite Hackman movies! Heres mine: --= The Conversation (1979) =-- "Schizo surveillance guy gets a contract that starts to derail things" is the basic premise, but there is more going on - "it has layers". Francis Ford Coppola filmed this in between Godfather I & II. I believe it is less famous only because the target audience is smaller, not due to its quality. The editing is perfect, the pacing just right and the acting mostly top notch. Gene Hackman absolutely nails it. I found the whole thing to be mesmerising and gripping until the very end. Underrated masterpiece. May he rest in peace.
- kunwon1 2y agoHeist (2001) - Directed by David Mamet It's not very well known or particularly well reviewed. It just clicked with me, I've watched it probably a dozen times. It's about a jewel heist and the drama surrounding it
- captainmisery 2y agoYes! Heist is my favorite as well.
- gilleain 2y agoThat was one of the first ones I thought of as well. Not sure why but the line "I can't be worrying about every little thing!" stuck in my mind.
- IanCal 2y agoI love heist. Truly excellent film. It's been a while since I've seen it so I'll have to dig it out again.
- sandebert 2y agoI love Heist. One quote that is etched into my brain, from Danny DeVito: "Everybody needs money. That's why they call it MONEY!"
- laidoffamazon 2y agoI liked Heist and especially liked the cast (Delroy Lindo and DeVito are excellent in everything I’ve seen them in as well) - but there’s something up with Mamets direction and cinematography that makes the movies look way cheaper and older than they are. Never understood it, not in Spartan or the Spanish Prisoner (another underrated film IMO) or Heist.
- LandR 2y agoHim, his wife and his dog found dead in the house ? Carbon Monoxide, possibly? Shame. I had no idea the guy was that old.
- world2vec 2y ago[flagged]
- ihattendorf 2y ago> according to the statement, which said that foul play was not suspected. From the 2nd paragraph of the article.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dnpls 2y agoWhat kind of psychopath commits murder-suicide and also kills their own dog??
- shortrounddev2 2y agoHitler
- shiroiushi 2y agoHitler loved dogs. And they loved him. Remember that next time someone says that dogs can tell which people are good and bad.
- wing-_-nuts 2y agoThey just got through saying that foul play was not suspected. It'd be nice if you could not slander the dead.
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- locallost 2y agoR.I.P. Just watched Mississippi Burning the other day again, what a terrific actor. One of the all time greats, so many memorable roles. I even thought man he's really old now, but this seems to be a tragedy. What a shame.
- robertlagrant 2y agoI always remember him in this role. Such a great film.
- loloquwowndueo 2y ago[flagged]
- boilerupnc 2y agohttps://archive.ph/EszIB https://archive.ph/EszIB
- toomuchtodo 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000432/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000432/ Related: Gene Hackman has died - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194778 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194778 Sheriff: Gene Hackman, wife found dead in Santa Fe home; no foul play suspected - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194324 Gene Hackman and his wife found dead at their home - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43192605 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43192605
- danso 2y agoAbsolutely bonkers that Hackman quit acting more than 20 years ago [0] — "Welcome to Mooseport (2004)" was his last film. But his body of work in my mind feels as timelessly relevant and fresh as Clint Eastwood's and Bill Murray's. Maybe because I love rewatching Unforgiven and Crimson Tide. I haven't even seen French Connection, which earned him his first Oscar. RIP to this legend. [0] https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000432/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000432/
- xhkkffbf 2y ago"French Connection" is truly great. Such a good chase scene.
- sleepybrett 2y agoThe Conversation and honestly The Royal Tanenbaums.
- munch117 2y agoWhichever of his movies I watched last.
- FuriouslyAdrift 2y agoDon't forget his incredible performance as Lex Luther in Superman (1978... written by Mario Puzo...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film)
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- bitwize 2y agoA couple of days ago, Michelle Trachtenberg (of Buffy fame) died. Seems the liver issues she'd been clearly undergoing since over a year ago finally caught up with her. She was just 39.
- canucker2016 2y agoWhy Gene Hackman stopped acting. from https://nypost.com/2025/02/27/entertainment/gene-hackman-revealed-what-forced-him-to-retire-from-acting-before-death-at-new-mexico-home/ https://nypost.com/2025/02/27/entertainment/gene-hackman-rev... “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,” Hackman told Empire in a 2009 interview. “The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress,” he added. He maintained his love for acting and missed it but the business had become too stressful for him.
- Clubber 2y ago>“The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress,” he added. >He maintained his love for acting and missed it but the business had become too stressful for him. Sounds like modern dev work.
- barbazoo 2y agoDepends on the individual situation obviously.
- Maxatar 2y agoThis is a take you'd only hear on a site like Hacker News. Software development consistently ranks among the least stressful jobs you can get and it's really out of touch to compare this profession to genuinely stressful jobs. Looking over surveys of most stressful jobs, it looks like the common theme are those that deal directly with people like customer service, sales, nursing/health care, or working in physically demanding environments like cook, construction, fire fighter. Software development is an incredibly stress-free job in the overwhelming majority of circumstances.
- poulsbohemian 2y agoThen consider yourself really lucky because I ended up in the hospital back in 2010 from the stress. Yes I hear there are lovely places with fat salaries, massages, and free lunches, but that's not the majority of software development or tech work.
- rcleveng 2y agoHe was a great actor and seemed like such a great human as well. Never realized until today, reading his bio that he is a former marine. Semper Fi. Rest in peace Marine!
- cf100clunk 2y agoThat background may have informed Hackman's portrayal of a military character in ''Bat*21'', a suspenseful film set during the Vietnam War based on the real escape of USAF Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton after being shot down.
- skyyler 2y agoI just looked into it and wow, that movie depicts him killing a farmer after failing to steal supplies from his family. Kind of surprising. Might have to check that out.
- MollyRealized 2y agoAnd of course "Crimson Tide." Good God, was he good in that one.
- randycupertino 2y agoHe was a force of nature embodying his role in Mississippi Burning. Very physical and I never realized how tall he was until you see him face down some redneck racists! He plays the in-the-trenches tough guy who makes Willem Dafoe look like a comparative dweeb.
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- iszomer 2y agoOi, his role as a USNavy admiral in the film Behind Enemy Lines now makes sense.
- dbacar 2y agoIt is strange that I thought he was dead long ago and was surprised to know that he was still alive. Sorry to know that now he passed away for real. Great actor. My favorite Lex Luthor.
- throwaway5752 2y ago** IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE ** Apologies for impolite formating. https://www.target.com/p/first-alert-2pk-co400cn2-battery-powered-carbon-monoxide-detector/-/A-13794432 https://www.target.com/p/first-alert-2pk-co400cn2-battery-po... This is a 2 pack. There are better ones, too. If you don't have one already, don't wait another day. Hundreds of people die preventable deaths each year in the US because of this.
- bbx 2y agoSometimes I randomly think of a famous person and ask myself "Are they still alive?". I remember doing it for Burt Bacharach and Dick Van Dyke (who's still alive!). This happened last month with Gene Hackman. I had just rewatched "The Conversation" and "The Firm" (so maybe not so random). So I googled him, and apparently he'd basically quit acting 20 years ago. It was weird to see recent pictures of him. I guess our memory of a retired actor is often skewed since we constantly see them at a younger age in their movies, but rarely (or never) in a recent context. And considering his impact in cinema history, it didn't feel like he'd left the industry at all. I hope he went away without pain. R.I.P.
- bsimpson 2y agoI had a weird dream in the wee hours of the morning that all the headlines read "Jack Nicholson dead at 95, days after SNL appearance." I checked my phone out of curiosity, and Gene Hackman was at the top of Google News.
- monero-xmr 2y agoDick Van Dyke just did a music video with Coldplay where he danced, pretty wild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeaHfkd3M8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeaHfkd3M8
- mnky9800n 2y agoThe 4k remaster of the conversation that came out in theatres was so good. I hadn’t seen it before and I was blown away by the end. Super recommend people go to the cinema these days they are doing lots of 4k remasters of classics like this.
- th0ma5 2y agoWild to think of Mr. Van Dyke as an avid Amiga user as well.
- voisin 2y agoHis role as Royal Tenenbaum is among my favourite characters in all of film. RIP
- sandebert 2y agoThere's more information here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/27/gene-hackman-cause-of-death-investigation https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/27/gene-hackman-ca...
- laidoffamazon 2y agoGene Hackman is one of my favorite actors of all time. There’s very few that can match his gravitas - as the young people say, his “aura”. One of the few that can is Denzel, of course…
- gamblor956 2y agoAs of this morning, the death is now considered "suspicious." Per local fire and police departments, there was no sign of a gas leak and only 1 of their 3 dogs died. The front door was found ajar, but there were no signs of forced entry. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-investigation-santa-fe-sheriffs-rcna193960 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gene-hackman-wife-found...
- datascientist 2y agoMississippi Burning is one my favorite films https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Burning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Burning
- fungiblecog 2y agoNote to the Times writer if the obituary. you can't accidentally murder someone
- baerrie 2y agoWhy do stories like this stay at the top of HN but anything “political” gets banned immediately?
- jessriedel 2y agoBecause the comments aren’t as toxic
- Arkhadia 2y agoLocal massage therapists called him Gene “Whackman.” Having grown up in Santa Fe amongst a large group of massage therapists (my mother taught massage to many decades ago), many knew about his behavior from their personal experiences but somehow never reported it. Sort of interesting.
- bentobean 2y agoErr… what?
- 486sx33 2y agoI really enjoyed “The Firm”. I love that gene played many different roles but always felt familiar enough, yet serious.