Hackman quit high school at 16, lied about his age and joined the Marines. He was trained as a radio operator before being shipped overseas. When his unit's announcer was injured, Hackman stepped in and found radio a hospitable medium. After his discharge, he studied journalism and TV production at the University of Illinois on the GI Bill. Hackman moved to New York and attended the School of Radio Technique, supporting himself through a succession of odd jobs. He next worked as an announcer at small radio and TV stations across the country. Hackman did not decide on an acting career until, at age 30, he realized that his announcing skills would help him in the profession.
Hackman attended the Pasadena Playhouse to learn acting. Older than most of the other students, he was a bit of a misfit, as was his free-spirited classmate (and subsequent NYC roommate), Dustin Hoffman. The duo was dubbed "least likely to succeed" by their peers. Nonetheless Hackman managed to make a name for himself on the stage.
His first important film appearance was in LILITH (1964) which starred Warren Beatty. Impressed by the novice film actor's performance, Beatty cast Hackman as Buck Barrow, the older brother of the outlaw Clyde, in BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967). Directed by Arthur Penn, the film became a 1960s landmark that provided a breakthrough role for Hackman, netting him his first Oscar® nomination (for best supporting actor). He was nominated in the same category in 1970 for I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER. Hackman became a full-fledged star with his performance in William Friedkin's blockbuster police drama, THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971), etching an indelible portrait of the tough narcotics cop, Popeye Doyle, and winning a Best Actor Oscar in the process. Hackman has displayed a remarkable range over the course of his brilliant career, as evidenced by his roles in the films that followed in the wake of THE FRENCH CONNECTION: SCARECROW (1973), a road/buddy picture with Al Pacino; Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION (1974), a somber character study of a surveillance expert; Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) which showcased Hackman's comedic talents as a well-meaning but dangerous blind man in a hilarious scene with Peter Boyle's Monster; Arthur Penn's pessimistic thriller NIGHT MOVES (1975) in which he plays a detective out of his depth professionally and personally; and FRENCH CONNECTION II (1975), a less commercially successful sequel which was more deeply critical of the protagonist.
Hackman may be best known by modern audiences for his portrayal of archvillain Lex Luthor in SUPERMAN (1978), and its 1980 and 1987 sequels. These high camp performances proved that Hackman was a major comic actor -- though even his skills couldn't save LOOSE CANNONS (1990), a vulgar cop comedy co-starring Dan Aykroyd, from oblivion. He played a showboating TV anchor who gets killed in Nicaragua in UNDER FIRE (1983). HOOSIERS (1986) displayed Hackman's warmer side as a small town high school basketball coach, while in NO WAY OUT (1987) he was a cold, polished Secretary of Defense with a secret. Hackman's performance as a good ol' boy FBI agent in MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988) earned him another best actor Oscar nomination.
In the 1990s Hackman alternated between leads (NARROW MARGIN, 1990, CLASS ACTION, 1991) and memorable supporting roles (Mike Nichols' POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, 1990, Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN, 1992). UNFORGIVEN provided Hackman one of the most fascinating characters of his career. Little Bill Daggett, the smiling sheriff of Big Whiskey, could have been the hero of a less critical Western. An effective lawman, he allows no guns in his town other than those used by his deputies. Little Bill means well but the usually laudable desire for law and order as a justification for sadism and near-totalitarianism. The sense of basic decency run amok that Hackman brings to the role makes Little Bill a profoundly ambiguous character. It also earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor.
In the 1993 hit, THE FIRM, he played Tom Cruise's mentor, a burnt-out lawyer who is powerless to rescue Cruise from his quandary. In the same year Hackman appeared in GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND as Brigadier General George Crook. His accomplished performance as Little Bill seemed to have spun off into roles in a new wave of westerns, in which he plays seasoned, sour, commanding characters. He followed up with the role of Nicholas Earp, Wyatt's father and Judge, in WYATT EARP (1994). Earp's personality exemplified Hackman's mid-1990s roles -- a strict patriarch with an extremely hard set of principles. He fell back into the saddle with a Little Bill type role in Sam Raimi's delirious Western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995).
One of the busiest actors in Hollywood, Hackman continues to play authority figures, but he's also not afraid to try a more comedic turn, like he did in the 1970s and 80s with the SUPERMAN series. His credits for the end of the 1990s include CRIMSON TIDE and GET SHORTY (both 1995), THE CHAMBER, THE BIRDCAGE and EXTREME MEASURES (all 1996), ABSOLUTE POWER, TWILIGHT and ENEMY OF THE STATE (all 1998).
Since then he's made UNDER SUSPICION and THE REPLACEMENTS (both 2000), THE MEXICAN, HEARTBREAKERS, HEIST, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and BEHIND ENEMY LINES (all 2001), THE RUNAWAY JURY (2003) and WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (2004).
Nominated for Supporting Actor 1967: BONNIE AND CLYDE
Nominated for Supporting Actor 1970: I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER
Actor 1971: THE FRENCH CONNECTION
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1988: MISSISSIPPI BURNING
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1992: UNFORGIVEN
5 nominations, 2 Awards