‘Tough guy’ Gene Hackman made his bones in dramas — but his comedic chops were wildly underrated

nypost.com:

who was found dead Wednesday at age 95 at home in New Mexico, was famous for playing admirals, generals, multiple (fictitious) presidents, coaches, a reverend, a senator and myriad other upright authority figures over his five-decade career in Hollywood.But his portrayals, like his life, were full of fascinating contradictions.

Popeye Doyle wasn’t just another detective, and Gene Hackman was not just another actor.Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1930 and eventually settled with his grandmother in Danville, Illinois.From a young age he dreamed of being in show business, even as misfortune and tragedy befell him.

His father abandoned the family when he was small, and his mother tragically died in a fire she accidentally set with a cigarette while drunk in 1962.Hackman joined the Marine Corps at age 16 and served for four years overseas but never lost the bug for performing.He went on to study TV production briefly at the University of Illinois before enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse in California alongside his friend Dustin Hoffman before they headed east to New York.In the early ’60s, he finally wound up on Broadway.These days, Hackman was known for being a “tough guy” with a craggy face, Popeye in “The French Connection,” Little Bill in “Unforgiven,” and Agent Rupert Anderson in “Mississippi Burning.”But his earliest roles in NYC had no blood and guts — just yuks.“Light comedies.

Very light,” he said during a TV interview in 1986 of shows such as “Any Wednesday” at the Music Box and “A Rainy Day in Newark” at the Belasco. “They wouldn’t allow them these days.