Gene Hackman: How Alzheimer's left him alone in his final days

The actor may not have known his wife was dead inside the home he was living in because of the disease.

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The two-time Academy Award winner didn't make any calls and missed meals.

Medical experts say it's possible the 95-year-old, who was in declining health and suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, did not even realise his wife of more than 30 years was dead in the home where he was living.

If he did, experts told the BBC, he likely went through various stages of confusion and grief, trying to wake her up before the disease caused him to become distracted or too overwhelmed to act - a process that likely repeated for days before he, too, died.

Officials in New Mexico say Betsy Arakawa, 65, died of a rare virus about seven days before Hackman perished on 18 February of natural causes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv419jp3v9o

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