Dustin Hoffman pays tribute to “genius” Gene Hackman: “I miss him already”
Acting great Dustin Hoffman has released a statement paying tribute to his former co-star and friend Gene Hackman, who died this week aged 95.
The actor was reportedly found dead with his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog on Wednesday afternoon (February 26) in their home in the New Mexico city of Santa Fe, Per the Santa Fe New Mexican. Pianist Arakawa was 63.
The outlet also reported that, in an interview, authorities stated there was no immediate indication of foul play. No cause of death was provided, along with a possible time of death.
On Thursday (February 27), it had been ruled that the deaths were being treated as “suspicious” according to a new search warrant affidavit.
Hoffman was a longtime friend of Hackman’s, having been roommates in acting school. Despite knowing each other a long time, they did not work together until 2003’s Runaway Jury, a year before Hackman’s retirement from acting in 2004.
The statement read: “I met Gene in acting school, at the Pasadena Playhouse, when he was 27 and I was 19. We used to play congas together on the roof, trying to be like our hero Marlon Brando… And Gene was like Brando, in that he brought something unprecedented to our craft, something people didn’t immediately understand as genius”.
Hoffman would end the statement by calling his friend: “Powerful, subtle, brilliant. A giant among actors. I miss him already”.
Tributes to the Oscar winner have poured in to from around the world in the days since his death. The Prince Of Wales called him a “true genius”, while Clint Eastwood, Hackman’s director in Unforgiven, said: “He will be deeply missed”. Tom Hanks posted his thoughts, saying: “There has never been a ‘Gene Hackman Type’. There has only been Gene Hackman”.
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Victoria Luxford
NME
