Gene Hackman’s business partner remembers actor as a prankster
SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gene Hackman was many things, most notably an award-winning actor, but what many don’t know is that Hackman loved a good prank.
SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gene Hackman was many things, most notably an award-winning actor, but what many don’t know is that Hackman loved a good prank.
His friend and former business partner, Doug Lanham, 76, said he played golf with Hackman, and while on the course, they’d make bets — something he said Hackman never thought was a good idea.
Lanham told NBC News that after a couple of years, he asked Hackman to pony up the $22 he owed.
Sure enough, Hackman repaid his friend, in $22 worth of pennies, wheeled into the restaurant they owned together in a big tool chest, Lanham recalled, along with a note that read: “I paid this debt under protest as I deem it to be taking advantage of old people.” Hackman signed the letter “Captain Hollywood,” a nickname his friends called him.
Lanham and Hackman met years ago, when Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, came into the restaurant Lanham owns, Jinja Bar & Bistro in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a mutual friend. Lanham said he invited the couple back the next day to cook at his restaurant, and the couple obliged.
Rating: 5