Fans of the late actor Gene Hackman have been searching for answers after he and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, under mysterious circumstances.
The actor, who died at 95, had lived a reclusive life in recent years after quietly retiring from acting after filming the 2004 satire Welcome To Mooseport.
Although fans have speculated for years that the film’s box-office bomb status might have contributed to his abandonment of Hollywood, Hackman himself explained why he quit acting in a recently resurfaced interview.
While speaking to Empire in 2009, several years into his retirement, Hackman revealed that it was his heart keeping him from getting back in front of the camera.
‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,’ Hackman explained. ‘The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.’
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Following Gene Hackman’s shock death under mysterious circumstances at his home in Santa Fe, a resurfaced interview is shedding light on why he quit Hollywood and settled in New Mexico; seen in 2003
Fans have speculated that his final film Welcome To Mooseport bombing might have contributed to him leaving Hollywood, Hackman himself explained his retirement in 2009; pictured with Christine Baranski in Welcome to Mooseport
‘I try to take care of myself,’ he said after he was asked if he was worried about his health.
‘I don’t have a lot of fears. I have the normal fear of passing away — you know, I guess we all think about that, especially when you get to be a certain age,’ he continued.
Hackman added that his main priority was to ensure that his wife and family were ‘taken care of.’
‘Other than that, I don’t have a lot of fears,’ he declared.
He spoke with King the same year that Welcome To Mooseport was released to a disappointing reception from reviewers and audiences alike.
The comedy only has a paltry 20 percent rotten score from the most prestigious critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie was a flop, grossing only $14.6 million against a $30 million budget.
Hackman starred in the film as a former president of the United States who has moved to the eponymous town in Maine after his term ended.
While in the midst of a divorce, he decides to run for town mayor to help himself consolidate some of his business interests, but a hardware store owner (Ray Romano) decides to challenge him in hopes that elected office might make his girlfriend fall back in love with him.
In a 2004 interview on Larry King Live, Hackman admitted that he had a ‘fear’ of dying, though he considered it a normal thing; pictured in 1993 with Clint Eastwood at the 65th Oscars
He spoke with King the same year that Welcome To Mooseport was released to a disappointing reception from reviewers and audiences alike; pictured in the film with Marcia Gay Harden