Rewatch Gene Hackman’s emotional Oscars speeches before his tragic death at 95

nypost.com:

was found dead at age 95 inside his Santa Fe home alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog on Wednesday, won Academy Awards in 1972 and 1993.

His first win, which was presented to him by Liza Minnelli, was for Best Actor for his role in the action thriller “The French Connection.”“Thank you very much,” Hackman said on stage at the start of his speech. “I just want to start at the beginning just for a second and say, sitting out there next to Barbara Harris reminds me of my first acting scene ever.”“It was in New York,” he continued, “and the gentlemen sitting in front of us when we were doing that scene was my acting teacher, and I just have to mention his name: George Morrison.

I want to thank him.”Hackman then shouted out William Friedkin, who won the Best Director Oscar earlier in the night. “I have to thank him because he really brought me through this when I wanted to quit,” he said.The actor also thanked producer Philip D’Antoni and his co-star Roy Scheider, with his final shoutout going to his then-wife, Faye Maltese.“And last, a young lady who I met in New York many years ago, Miss Felippa Maltese, and she brought me uptown,” he said. “Thank you.”In “The French Connection,” Hackman played a detective based on Eddie Egan, the subject of Robin Moore’s nonfiction book.

Hackman mentioned Egan in his speech.The film won four other Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.In 2000, Hackman said in an interview that he initially didn’t think he was the right fit for “The French Connection.”“When we first started, I was pretty unsure of myself, because [his character] had to be pretty ruthless,” Hackman explained. “In the early parts of the filming, I just wasn’t up to it.