Gene Hackman Family: His Mom Anna Encouraged His Movie Career

Legendary actor Gene Hackman credited his mom, Anna, with sparking his interest in movies.

“Is it true that when you were a boy, your mother took you to see movies and she told you that she wanted ‘to see you do that someday’?” GQ asked Hackman in a 2011 interview.

“She did say that. I would have been 10. Things parents say to children are oftentimes not heard, but in some cases you pick up on things that your parent would like to see you have done. Unfortunately my mom never saw me act, so I’m sorry for that, but that’s the way it is,” he told the magazine.

His father, Eugene Hackman, “was a pressman for the local newspaper. His mother was a waitress,” GQ reported.

Gene Hackman Believed His Mom Would Have Liked 1 of His Movies in Particular

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Gene Hackman believed his mom, Anna, would have loved his movie “I Never Sang for My Father,” he told GQ.

“I thought it was a sensitive picture about family and relationships, and I think she would have been proud and happy to see that. You’re fortunate to be able to do something in life that defines who you are, and who your parents may have wanted to be,” he told GQ. But sadly his mom died from an accidental fire before his movie career took off.

“My lines, or any comfort, direction, or things of that nature, would’ve come from my mother. She and my grandmother were important,” he added to GQ when asked what his father had taught him.

“My grandmother was somewhat infirm when I was 10 or 12, and we all lived in the same house, so when my mother and father were out hanging wallpaper, or whatever they were doing as an extra job, my grandmother and I babysat each other,” he told GQ. “I was too young to be left alone, and she was too old to be left alone, so I became very close with her. She was a great storyteller.”

GQ reported that Hackman’s dad “abandoned the family” when he was 13.

Gene Hackman Had 2 Wives & 3 Kids Throughout His Lengthy Life

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Hackman, who died on February 27, 2025, at the age of 95, had two wives throughout his life, and three kids.

His three kids were son Christopher and daughters Leslie and Elizabeth, whom he shared with his first wife of three decades, Faye Maltese, according to People Magazine.

After he and Maltese divorced, Hackman married his second wife, a pianist named Betsy Arakawa, who died along with her husband and the family dog, according to TMZ.

Gene Hackman also had a brother named Richard.

Hackman’s kids have generally led a private life, although his daughters did attend movie premieres with him over the years.