# Gene Hackman and wife found dead, and dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [February 27, 2025, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861 "2025-02-27T08:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/81 "2025-02-27T23:38:48Z")
He was the last member of the cast (that actually appeared onscreen, not counting extras and bit parts. He was the last - for lack of a better word - _name_), since Teri Garr passed away last year. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/82 "2025-02-27T23:45:54Z")
No mentions of The Replacements? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aHf4kfvXFDI/hqdefault.jpg "GET ME THE BALL!! The Replacements") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHf4kfvXFDI) From what I understand he completely improvised on that scene telling John Favreau to simply repeat everything he said. Truly a talented guy `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/83 "2025-02-27T23:47:32Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > That’s what I choose to believe despite the evidence. I really had no idea when I wrote it - it just seemed a thing Mel Brooks would allow, even if it was the 20th take. What evidence to the contrary? And are you telling me chatGPT is wrong? > in “young Frankenstein” did mel brooks allow Gene Hackman to ad-lib the line “I was going to make espresso!” ? Yes! In _Young Frankenstein_ (1974), **Gene Hackman** ad-libbed the famous line: **“I was going to make espresso!”** Mel Brooks, the film’s director, allowed some improvisation in the movie, and Hackman, who played the blind hermit, added that line as a humorous twist to the scene where the monster (Peter Boyle) flees in terror after being accidentally set on fire. Brooks later said in interviews that the line was **not in the script** , but it was so funny that they **kept it in the final cut**. If it was “famous” I reckon I’d have known who that uncredited actor was. He was the kind of actor you might read about the plot and be “meh” yet Gene Hackman is in it. Will watch! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/84 "2025-02-28T00:12:55Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Since 2009, UL-listed CO alarms are required to sound an alarm after ten years of service: The alarm for replacement is different from the alarm for detection. The former being 3 short beeps with several minutes in-between. They are surprisingly accurate. I used to be the on-site handyman at an apartment complex. All of the CO detectors went off within a week of each other 10 years after the units were built. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I always said, forget Brando. The three best actors were DeNiro, Duvall and…Hackman! He’s so great in everything. Gary Oldman has to be in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/85 "2025-02-28T00:25:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Gary Oldman has to be in there somewhere. Different era. I’ll have to watch something with Hackman in it now. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/86 "2025-02-28T00:29:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Different era. There’s only 15 years difference between De Niro and Oldman and they’ve both been making movies concurrently for quite some time now. - not sure I’d call that an era. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/87 "2025-02-28T00:30:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve mentioned before that his performance as Lex Luthor is probably the reason I’m happily married with plenty of money in the bank Elaborate, please… ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/88 "2025-02-28T00:38:01Z")
news indicates that it WAS NOT CO poisoning and that they had been dead long enough for decomposition to be evident. The dog was locked in the cage and likely died of thirst.(my speculation) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/89 "2025-02-28T00:50:08Z")
He was a contributor to 2009’s [Dear Me. Letters to My 16 Year Old Self](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Me-Letter-Sixteen-Year-Old-Self/dp/1847377661?&linkCode=sl1&tag=flashbacksh0f-21&linkId=17e3acb81a7b877b89f887a4fe74fef0&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) Gene– Hey, daddy-o, what’s up. Hear you been hanging out at the post office talking to those jarhead recruits about joining up. The Marines are a great outfit but there’s plenty of time, plowboy. Finish school first. What’s with mom talking to you after the picture show about Errol Flynn and acting? What do you think? In any case, you decide to be an actor, you’d probably be banned from the neighborhood. Coach Ave at school might be worthing listening to. His advice about Hemingway, reading the classics, and applying yourself could be beneficial. If you did decide to take up acting, many you should think about New York instead of Hollywood. It might be easier. Hahaha. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/90 "2025-02-28T00:56:19Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Brooks later said in interviews that the line was **not in the script** , but it was so funny that they **kept it in the final cut**. And yet it’s in the early drafts of the script. Page 90. > **[young-frankenstein-1974.pdf](https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/young-frankenstein-1974.pdf)** > > 1770.35 KB ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/91 "2025-02-28T01:35:19Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > The dog was locked in the cage and likely died of thirst.(my speculation) It was in the bathroom closet not far away from where pills had been scattered on the floor. No mention in the news report I read if closet door being closed. I think they’d mention that but who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/92 "2025-02-28T01:45:52Z")
I reckon Mel Brooks (as was Gene Wilder who, at Hackman’s request to do a comedy, invited Hackman to be in the movie) are generous. And the notion that Brooks “allowed some improvisation in the movie” is silly - he counted on improvisation. If that line was scripted, it was well delivered. Mel Brooks was (and _is_) not Hitchcock. Even Stanley Kubrick allowed for improv. (ETA - and not just from Peter Selllers) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/93 "2025-02-28T02:14:43Z")
So anyway, I meant what I said that lead or character actor, Gene Hackman would be a reason to watch a movie. And the ‘espresso’ scene is a wide shot and has Peter Boyle (the monster) knocking down a door and running away while on fire, so it likely did not lend itself to improv. Heck, maybe Mel Brooks told Hackman “make this funny - even in black and white this is not a shot we want to do more than one take of” ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/94 "2025-02-28T02:55:41Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It was in the bathroom closet not far away from where pills had been scattered on the floor. I think it may be kinda leaning towards suicide pact at this point. Hackman was 95, so not at all an outré notion for him. His wife was only 64, but that’s old enough to have physical issues and they had been married for ~34 years. They may have decided to just call it quits together. Which if so…fair enough. Though I would probably have tried to re-home the dog first. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/95 "2025-02-28T03:03:00Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Elaborate, please… On typing it out instead of just reminiscing in shorthand, it seems more like a make-this-all-about-me-me-me thing than maybe belongs here — but I’ll PM you the details, on the off chance that you’d find ‘em interesting. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/96 "2025-02-28T04:24:43Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > But I loved him in lesser-known roles, too, like _The Heist._ I expected more from _Heist_, having been written and directed by David Mamet, but even so, Hackman was superb. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/97 "2025-02-28T04:36:15Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > > [@Coriolanus](#): > > > > Brooks later said in interviews that the line was **not in the script** , but it was so funny that they **kept it in the final cut**. > > And yet it’s in the early drafts of the script. Page 90. The scene in question has Hackman as the old hermit imploring the Frankenstein monster to come back. Given the rapid-paced comedic tone of the movie, there’s no way that scene would not have had some snappy comedic line. With all respect to Hackman and all his talents, I think that line had to be in the script, and if Hackman ad-libbed it, then he substituted it for something else that was scripted and Brooks decided it was funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/98 "2025-02-28T04:45:08Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > and if Hackman ad-libbed it, then he substituted it for something else that was scripted and Brooks decided it was funnier. I mean, we literally have the link to the script posted above. The line is in there, exactly as delivered in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/99 "2025-02-28T04:51:45Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > The line is in there, exactly as delivered in the movie. Oh yes, I totally agree with you, and my point was that if it wasn’t in the script, something else must have been. But you said “early draft”, so giving the “ad-lib” theory the benefit of the doubt, I was thinking maybe it got replaced by some other line in a later revision but Hackman decided to go with it anyway. 🙂 Anyway, this is getting way off topic. Hackman was fantastic in that movie, as he was in so many others, but with that immense hermit beard he was pretty much unrecognizable! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861/100 "2025-02-28T07:07:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I absolutely HATED “Heist,” I thought that movie was just a disaster… How many times did they say the word “Job” in that flick? “_We can’t go down with the job!_” “_He’s not in on the job_.” “_Just do the job_”. Job, job, job, job, job! 🙄 Then those little sayings that were supposed to be clever: “_Cute as a pail of kittens_”. “_Everyone needs money. That’s why it’s called money_!” “_Cute as a Chinese baby_.” Everything seemed artificial and forced. Yet Hackman was magnificent and had one of the best movie endings of all his films. No matter what the facts turn out to be this is a tragic end for him. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-hackman-and-wife-found-dead-and-dog/1014861.md?page=6)