Why Gene Hackman Quit Hollywood

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Actors just don’t seem to retire anymore, and if they do, they don’t seem to stay retired for very long.

A few years mowing the lawn and getting under their partner’s feet often finds them returning to what they know best.

But not Gene Hackman.

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Few leading man have such an impressive body of work as Hackman, from his superlative performance in ‘Mississippi Burning’ and his Oscar-winning turn as grizzled cop Jimmy 'Popeye’ Doyle in 'The French Connection’ to his magnificently absurd Royal Tenenbaum for Wes Anderson’s 'The Royal Tenenbaums’.

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Then there’s 'The Firm’, the ahead of its time 'Enemy of the State’, 'Unforgiven’ (for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), 'Superman’, ‘The Conversation’, 'Hoosiers’ and 'The Birdcage’.

Able to blend high drama and slapstick comedy, he was a true Hollywood great with a career spanning 50 years.

But rather than following the lead of so many other great actors of his generation, who often work into their 80s, he announced in 2004 that he was retiring. And that’s exactly what he did.

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His last movie was the comedy 'Welcome To Mooseport’ with Ray Romano released that same year.

Giving a rare interview on the Larry King show, he confirmed he had no further work lined up, and was planning to call it quits in order to work on his second career as a novelist instead in his hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with his wife Bestsy.

And unlike many who later find they crave the limelight, he’s stayed retired, though he did admit in an interview with GQ in 2011 that he would possibly consider a project 'if I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people’.

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So far, it seems those specific circumstances have not presented themselves.

He’s penned three historical fiction novels in collaboration with Daniel Lenihan, an undersea archeologist - 'Justice For None’ in 2006, a thriller set in the Depression, 'Escape From Andersonville’ in 2009, about a prison escape during the Civil War, and 'Wake of the Perdido Star’ in 2011, a sea adventure set in the 19th century.

Then in 2011 and 2013, he published his first solo efforts, 'Payback at Morning Peak’, an Old West tale of revenge, and police thriller 'Pursuit’.

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The only times Hackman has hit the news in recent years was when he sustained minor injuries after being knocked off his bike in Florida in 2012, and then the same year following a scuffle with a homeless man as he left a restaurant in Santa Fe.

It was reported that the man called Hackman’s wife an obscene name and acted in a ‘threatening manner’ when the retired actor didn’t give him any money, so Hackman slapped the man in self defence. No charges were filed.

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So it seems at 85-years-old, the veteran star is doing just what he wants. And not ruining his sterling record on stage and screen by not knowing when to quit.

Respect due.

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Image credits: Rex Features