Morgan Freeman gave an emotional tribute to his friend and co-star Gene Hackman at the Oscars after the actor and his wife were found dead at their home.
The bodies of Hackman, 95, his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their pet dog were discovered by a maintenance worker at their house in New Mexico on Wednesday.
Freeman, 87, starred alongside the late actor in the films Under Suspicion and Unforgiven, which won Hackman his second Oscar.
Speaking on stage at the 97th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Freeman said: “This week a community lost a giant and I lost a dear friend, Gene Hackman.”
He described working with him as a “pleasure” and added: “Like everyone who’s ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work.”
Morgan Freeman pays tribute to Gene Hackman at the Oscars. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
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Freeman continued: “He received two Oscars – but more importantly he won the hearts of film lovers all over the world.
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“Gene always said ‘I don’t think about legacy, I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work’.
“So I think I speak for us all when I say Gene, you’ll be remembered for that and so much more. Rest in peace, my friend.”
Gene Hackman with his Oscar in 1993. Pic: AP
The tribute was followed by others for stars who also died in the last year, including Dame Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson, Donald Sutherland, Joan Plowright, David Lynch, and James Earl Jones.
Later, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg led tributes to music producer Quincy Jones after his death in 2024.
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Post-mortem examinations and toxicology reports are still ongoing into Hackman’s death, but preliminary findings suggest he and his wife suffered “no external trauma” and could have been dead for days – if not weeks.
Hackman’s most memorable performances include New York City detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection and surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation.
As well as Oscars, he won BAFTAs and Golden Globes, before stepping away from acting in 2004 to write novels, a career he said better suited his solitary nature.
