Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, was known for her piano and business skills before her untimely death
Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife — a businesswoman who was a steadfast companion of the screen legend and had musical talents of her own — died alongside him Wednesday.
Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife — a businesswoman who was a steadfast companion of the screen legend and had musical talents of her own — died with him Wednesday.
Arakawa, 65, was found dead with Hackman and the couple’s dog in their New Mexico home, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said. A search warrant says the deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
Hackman’s daughter Elizabeth declined to comment when reached by phone, but said in a statement along with his other daughter, Leslie, and his granddaughter, Annie, that they are “devastated” by the loss.
Actor Gene Hackman with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, in New York in the last few years.Leslie Hackman“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” Hackman’s family said in the statement. “He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa.”Arakawa, a former classical pianist, had been with the “French Connection” actor for more than four decades. She met the actor while working part time at a fitness center in California, according to The New York Times Magazine. Together, the pair, who married in 1991, enjoyed watching DVDs that Arakawa would rent, particularly “simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce,” Hackman told Empire in 2020.
But long before meeting the actor, Arakawa, a Hawaii native, was an accomplished young pianist. While attending Kahala Elementary School, Arakawa, then 11 years old, performed for 9,000 children at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, according to a 1971 Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper article.
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