Inside Gene Hackman's 'Happy' Life with Wife Betsy (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.Photo:SplashNews.com

SplashNews.com

Gene Hackmanlived a “happy” life in New Mexico, according to the photographer who last shot the actor and his wifeBetsy Hackman(née Arakawa) together before they werefound deadalongside one of their dogs on Wednesday.

“I think that he loved Santa Fe,” Splash News photographer Mark Kreusch tells PEOPLE exclusively. Hackman, who turned 95 on Jan. 30, retired from acting after 2004 and lived in the New Mexico city with Arakawa, his wife since 1991.

They were also seldom without their dogs. Arakawa, says the photographer, “had those German shepherds with her everywhere she went without [fail]. There was not one time that I didn’t see her with those German Shepherds. She had cages built into the cars.”

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

On March 28, 2024, thelast time Kreusch photographed the married couple together, theFrench Connectionstar and Arakawa dined at a local Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. “On the way out,” he recalls, “they were pretty happy. They were in good spirits.”

Kreusch says he observed Hackman multiple times looking “always pretty upbeat." “For a guy that old, he had energy… He was solo, he was moving about and he was happy.”

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Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Ron Galella Collection via Getty

source: people.com