SANTA FE, N.M. — Gene Hackman didn’t want to slow down, according to friends in the Santa Fe community he spent almost 40 years in with his wife, Betsy Arakawa Hackman, by his side.
Stephen Marshall, a retired FBI agent who trained them through a community outreach program, recalled the Oscar-winner was “bothered” by aging.
“Gene was concerned about the fact that he was getting older. He didn’t like being old, and seeing himself on film bothered him because he knew he didn’t look like that anymore,” Marshall, who later became a friend of the Hackmans, told Fox News Digital.
He recalled inviting Gene and Betsy to a screening of one of Gene’s films, “Night Moves,” but the invitation was declined.
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“She said Gene broke into a cold sweat when she brought it up, but he just … didn’t want to be any part of it. And so I tried to respect that.”
He continued, “When we went out, he didn’t want to advertise who he was. I remember the first time we went out, we’re walking down the street in Santa Fe, and I noticed people noticing him. And I said, ‘Do you get used to the idea of people going, “Hey, that’s Gene Hackman”’? And he said, “Yeah, but now they add, ‘And he got so old.’” So I thought he looked much younger. I thought he looked great, but he was concerned that he had aged and that bothered him.”
Marshall first met Gene and Betsy at a picnic event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the FBI, and he later trained them through a citizens’ academy, a program to help people learn about the bureau.
“I got to talk to them a little bit more as we took him to the range one day. We shot all the bureau guns, and I had a business card with my cellphone number I was going to give Betsy at the end of the academy and tell her, ‘If you guys ever need anything, just give me a call.’ And as I was walking up to give it to her, she turned around and handed me a Post-it note that she had already filled out with her phone number and email and said, ‘Gene and I would like [to] take you to dinner if you have time.’ And I’m thinking, ‘I think I can squeeze it in!’ And so we went to dinner a couple of weeks later, and after that we just became friends.”
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Marshall hadn’t seen them for a while before their deaths, recalling Gene was “starting to have some issues with age. And so I was seeing them less and less often. They were going out less.”
Gene died around Feb. 18 due to hypertensive and atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor, New Mexico officials confirmed last week. He was likely alone in their home for about a week after Betsy died due to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is transmitted from animals to humans and is commonly found in rodents.
While many friends remarked upon the couple’s private behavior, all were impressed by how active and engaged they were, particularly Gene.
Mike Anaya, a sports medicine specialist with Santa Fe Spa, told Fox News Digital, “Gene, at 84, he had a background in the Marines. He used to box in the Marines. So he was a tough guy. And he knew what he was doing.”
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Anaya first worked with Gene after Betsy reached out along with a referral from a doctor to address a shoulder injury.
After rehabbing the shoulder injury, Anaya said Gene’s training regimen was “scapular stability, of course, to build hip stability and proprioception, that’s balance. He was getting a little bit older, so we had to address that.”
Anaya said Gene “had a boxing background in the military. So he knew how to stand. He knew how to throw punches, he knew how to move. So I was very impressed,” adding that they never exchanged punches, just worked with practice mitts.
He also recalled getting to know them well, saying, “After a while working with Gene, he insisted that I call him Gene instead of Mr. Hackman. So, you know, they’re really nice people. He wasn’t stuck up. He was a good man … and she was a good lady.”
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Gene also gifted the trainer a few of his paintings, a beloved hobby of the late actor.
Mike Putnam, a golf instructor who worked with them, also noted that the Oscar-winner insisted that he be called Gene instead of “Mr. Hackman.”
The “French Connection” star left a note on Putnam’s desk requesting lessons.
“[He was a] terrific person. And it just developed from there and several golf lessons. We enjoyed time together, and eventually Betsy, his wife, joined us, and she started taking lessons as well. “So it just became a nice, fun relationship to have,” Putnam told Fox News Digital.
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He shared that Gene was “determined” to learn the game, noting that golf is more difficult than might be expected.
“I think he kind of knew that. But I think he always probably expected to do a little better than he was doing, you know?” Putnam said with a laugh. “But I was able to talk him through that and set the right expectations to help him enjoy it and not have such high expectations.”
He continued, “And Betsy, when she started playing, it frustrated him a little more, because she was a little more athletic, actually, and she kind of took to the game quicker and maybe probably just didn’t get in her own way. You could just see Gene grinding in his head. But gosh, what a delight both of them were.”
Putnam was one of several people in Gene’s orbit to receive a painting from the actor. Putnam’s came with a simple note that read, “Thanks for our time” after working on lessons together.
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Stuart Ashman, a friend of Gene and Betsy’s, also received a painting from the actor after routinely delivering him a dozen eggs from his small farm.
“One day he brought me a painting, and I said, ‘You can’t give me this painting.’ He says, ‘Yeah, you’ve been giving me eggs for months.’ So I traded a painting for eggs, which is pretty nice. So now I have this wonderful treasure,” he told Fox News Digital.
Ashman and Gene met when they served on a committee together at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and they bonded further through a shared Pilates teacher.
“He was the class after me, and it was a one-on-one class, and we would sit and talk for long enough that the teacher said, ‘Gene, are you going to take a class today or are you just going to talk to Stuart?’ And that’s really kind of how it was. It was a strong connection. Although, you know, now that he’s passed, I lament the fact that we didn’t spend more time together.”
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Ashman also recalled, “He was very fit, you know, and he was 6-foot-2 plus an ex-Marine. He did Pilates like three times a week. And then on the days that he didn’t do Pilates, he would load his bicycle up to his SUV and drive to Albuquerque, which is 70 miles, and ride this trail down there, which is along the river and it’s paved and level. So he didn’t want to do mountain biking, but he did that. So he was in great shape.”
Daniel and Barbara Lenihan and their son, Aaron, recently spoke with People magazine about Gene and Betsy, saying Gene had been “essentially kind of home-bound” in “recent times” and “quit riding his bike through the neighborhood.”
Aaron told the outlet, “Betsy tried to keep him kind of active and engaged,” adding that the “Mississippi Burning” star did puzzles and yoga via Zoom daily.
“She was still trying to keep him as active and engaged and healthy as possible,” Aaron said.
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Gene and Betsy also shared some active hobbies, like fly-fishing and learning to fly planes.
Ivan Valdez, the owner of The Reel Life, told Fox News Digital that Betsy called his shop eight years ago and got everything set up for Gene and former NFL star and coach Jack Del Rio to go up to the Pecos Wilderness for a relaxing day.
“A few years ago, Gene’s wife, Betsy, gave us a call at the fly shop wanting to get a trip set up for her husband and Jack Del Rio, who is a former NFL coach. So I ended up taking them to Cal Creek Ranch in the Pecos Wilderness, and it was just a spectacular day out there with them,” Valdez said.
Valdez said he was “pretty nervous” to go fly-fishing with someone of Gene’s caliber, but the movie star made “the day so comfortable and easy to be around him.”
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“We got into a lot of deep conversations about family,” Valdez said.
Andy Wells, a retired military pilot and flight instructor, first met the couple in 1987 and worked with Gene to get his pilot’s license up to date and train Betsy in flying, partially as a backup in case of emergencies.
Wells said both Gene and Betsy were good pilots, and Gene, who had years of experience, “had the moves.”
After the couple’s successful lessons with Wells, they would occasionally meet for other activities in the Santa Fe area.
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“I would bump into him around town, and eventually I think he joined the El Gancho swim and tennis club. And then he and I became tennis buddies. And that was an experience.”
As many friends noted, Gene became “reclusive,” and Wells didn’t see him or Betsy for years.
“The two of them were joined at the hip, practically. So, if he became reclusive, I think she did, too. And she was very quiet. Anyway, if she went out on her own and was in the same grocery store [as] me, it would be easy to not see her. She was small and quiet and very, very focused. I thought she was great.”
Gene was also generally active in the Santa Fe community.
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Jennifer LaBar-Tapia, the Santa Fe Film Commissioner, shared that the “Superman” star didn’t lead a Hollywood life in town.
“Gene Hackman is an icon, as all film fans know. But having Gene Hackman the neighbor here, he was just a man about town. He was very approachable. He and his wife were woven deep into our community. She was a business owner. He sat on the board of directors for our Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. He invested in a handful of restaurants here in Santa Fe, so he was very much a foodie. He was an artist. He was an author. So really, his time in Santa Fe was really toward the end of his career as Gene Hackman, the actor that we already knew him as. But we got the privilege of getting to know him as the author, the artist and the foodie,” she told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright, Lauryn Overhultz, Janelle Ash, and Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.
