Gene Hackman never disappointed. Whether as a leading man or a supporting player, he carried a kind of dependability that few actors in the history of cinema have managed. Even in films that failed to hit their mark, Hackman remained a steady force, unwavering in his commitment to his craft.

Among the few icons from the previous century who announced their retirement, in 2004, at the age of 74, Hackman remained a colossus till his death at 95. In the three and a half decades that Hackman remained in the spotlight, he played nearly every kind of character one could imagine and, at times, even the kind that were unimaginable.

The consummate actor’s actor, a reluctant star who never courted Hollywood’s glitz but commanded its utmost respect, the two-time Oscar winning screen legend was found dead with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, a 65-year-old classical pianist, and their dog in their Santa Fe home in New Mexico. Initially, the police ruled out foul play — now they seem to suggest that there is enough reason to take a relook. Much like his life, and his stardom, Hackman’s death, too, seems like an afterthought, a second glance, a relook that would go on to transform into something more significant than what could have been imagined.

Hackman’s brilliance stemmed from his steadfast refusal to embrace stardom. Hackman was well into his thirties when Hollywood first took notice of him in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the same year when the audiences sat up and noticed a new kind of leading man in Dustin Hoffman with The Graduate (1967). Ironically, Hoffman was to play Mr. Robinson – the cuckolded husband whose wife, the Mrs. Robinson seduces Benjamin Braddock – but the director felt he looked too young. It wasn’t until Hackman was over 40 that he became a bona fide leading man with The French Connection (1971), the film also earned his first Oscar. This delayed recognition bestowed upon him a textured gravitas impossible to manufacture,........

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