Betsy Arakawa died as she lived, privately with her beloved husband Gene Hackman

CNN

28-02-2025

Gene Hackman was known for his talent as an actor, but many of his other artistic pursuits were inspired and supported by his wife of 34 years, Betsy Arakawa.
The Oscar-winner retired from the screen in 2014, in part, to spend more time painting and writing. In an interview that year with the podcast Writer's Bone, Hackman credited Arakawa for helping him develop his writing voice.
'If in fact I have a style, it came from repeated edits, friends' suggestions, and my wife's unwavering, specific read-throughs,' Hackman said at the time.
Arakawa, a musician, was found dead along with her husband and their dog in their New Mexico home this week. The causes of death are not yet known. The pair did not show any external trauma, and there were no immediate signs of foul play, according to preliminary autopsies and officials.
There were also no immediate signs of a carbon monoxide or natural gas leak, authorities said. Their bodies were found in separate rooms in their house, with scattered pills found next to Arakawa, according to the sheriff's office.
It was a sad and puzzling end to the quiet life the couple lived.
Hackman and Arakawa, 'a classical pianist he met while she was working part-time in a California fitness center,' were featured in a 1989 New York Times Magazine story.
'They share a two-bedroom adobe house on a wide brown plain outside Santa Fe,' the story stated of their residence at the time. 'He paints and sketches, solitary hobbies, and tools around in one of his two pickup trucks.'
Hackman, then 59, had enjoyed three decades as a successful actor in Hollywood. He reflected on his career and personal life, including his 1986 divorce from Faye Maltese, whom he had married in 1956 and had three children with.
The couple had multiple separations before finally ending their marriage.
'You become very selfish as an actor,' Hackman told the publication. 'You spend so many years wanting desperately to be recognized as having the talent and then when you're starting to be offered these parts, it's very tough to turn anything down. Even though I had a family, I took jobs that would separate us for three or four months at a time. The temptations in that, the money and recognition, it was too much for the poor boy in me. I wasn't able to handle that.'
In an interview with the Sun-Sentinel to promote his 1985 film 'Twice in a Lifetime,' Hackman made it clear that the break down of his first marriage did not have to do with another woman.
'By the way, I did not leave my real life wife for a younger woman,' he said. 'We just drifted apart.'
Hackman and Arakawa married in 1991. The pair enjoyed watching 'DVDs that my wife rents; we like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce,' he told Empire in 2020.
Arakawa, who grew up in Hawaii, reportedly found her love of music early. She once performed for 9,000 other young people at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall.
Moving to Los Angeles after high school, she attended University of Southern California. Arakawa graduated with a degree in social sciences and communication, according to the New York Times. She then spent time working as a production assistant on the television game show 'Card Sharks' and as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team.
With Hackman she found a true partnership.
The Oscar-winning actor wrote multiple books, including 1999's 'Wake of the Perdido Star,' which he co-wrote with Daniel Lenihan, 2011's 'Payback at Morning Peak' and 2013's 'Pursuit.'
Barbara Lenihan, the wife of Hackman's co-author and a friend of the couple for almost 35 years, told the New York Times that Arakawa would type on the computer her husband's books that he wrote long hand, assisting with edits and sharing her opinions about the characters.
'She was very involved with what he did,' Lenihan said. 'She made it very possible for him to do it.'
Arakawa led the renovation and decorating their Southwestern-style ranch, Hackman told Architectural Digest in 1990.
'We bought a few things in Santa Fe,' Hackman said. 'Other things came from auctions in New York, an antiques shop in Germany that Betsy and I found, and from Los Angeles. It's a nice combination of soft Southwestern pieces and hard-edged antiques.'
The couple also shared a love of animals.
While Hackman was filming 'The Replacements' in Baltimore in 1999, two stray dogs wandered onto the set. Hackman took them to a shelter where they were promptly named after the actor and his costar Keanu Reeves, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Hackman and Arakawa later adopted the dog who was named Gene for him.