Robert Berkvist on the tragic death of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, for the New York Times:

Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star but became one all the same, playing seemingly ordinary characters with deceptive subtlety, intensity and often charm in some of the most noted films of the 1970s and '80s, has died, the authorities in New Mexico said on Thursday. He was 95.

Mr. Hackman and his wife were found dead on Wednesday afternoon at the home in Santa Fe., N.M., where they had been living, according to a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. The cause of death was unclear and under investigation. Sheriff's deputies found the bodies of Mr. Hackman; his wife, Betsy Arakawa; and a dog, according to the statement, which said that foul play was not suspected.

It’s one level of grief when a celebrity with the stature of Gene Hackman dies. It’s even more tragic when a loved one dies too.

When I learned of Hackman’s death, two movies came immediately to mind: Superman 1^[1] and Enemy of the State. Probably not the first two films most people think of, but I came late to most of his work.

Hackman, it turns out, was a significant part of my classic films self-education—movies released “before my time”—but I didn’t realize as I watched them that they were Hackman classics; they were just classics: The French Connection, The Poseidon Adventure, even Young Frankenstein (which, until now, I never realized he was in).

(I saw The Royal Tenenbaums, but that movie occupies the “WTF did I just watch” spot in my brain, so I don’t recall most of it.)

Most of his other iconic movies—Bonnie and Clyde, Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning—remain on my “to watch” list.

That list will be getting a workout over the next few weeks.