List of Gene Hackman performances

This is a complete filmography of Gene Hackman (1930–2025). His cinematic debut was as an uncredited policeman in Mad Dog Coll (1961), but he and fellow newcomer Jessica Walter received recognition for their cameo appearances in the film Lilith (1964), which Hackman succeeded with Hawaii (1966). However, his breakout film role was that of Buck Barrow, a member of the notorious bank robbing Barrow Gang, in Arthur Penn's groundbreakingly violent Bonnie and Clyde (1967). All five main cast members earned nominations at the Academy Awards, including Hackman for Best Supporting Actor (sharing the same category as co-star Michael J. Pollard). Hackman followed this up with several 1969 films, including Downhill Racer and Marooned; as well as the drama I Never Sang for My Father (1970), which reunited him with his Bonnie and Clyde on-screen wife, Estelle Parsons. For this film, he earned his second Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

Cast of Bonnie and Clyde (1967); from L to R: Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Michael J. Pollard.

Hackman next portrayed what was to become one of his signature roles—the iconic Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle—in William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971). For this, he received the Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and several others. He subsequently began starring in a number of primarily lead roles, such as The Hunting Party (1971); The Poseidon Adventure and Prime Cut (both 1972); Scarecrow (1973); The Conversation and Young Frankenstein (both 1974); and Night Moves (1975). Also in 1975, he reprised his role as Popeye Doyle in the sequel French Connection II.

By the end of the decade his output began to slow down, but nevertheless still featured him in a variety of supporting and leading parts. Such films during this stretch include A Bridge Too Far (1977); Superman (1978); Superman II (1980); Reds (1981); Under Fire, Eureka, and Uncommon Valor (all 1983); Twice in a Lifetime (1985); Hoosiers and Power (both 1986); No Way Out (1987); Another Woman (1988); The Package (1989); and Postcards from the Edge (1990). He also returned to the Superman franchise, after being absent from the third film, in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (also 1987). The following year, he earned his fourth overall Academy Award nomination, once again for Leading Actor, for Mississippi Burning (1988).

Heading into the 1990s, Hackman was more ubiquitous and prolific than ever. He also co-starred in Clint Eastwood's neo-western Unforgiven (1992), which earned him his fifth and final Oscar nomination and his second Academy Award win—this time for Supporting Actor, making him one of the few actors to win Oscars in both the leading and supporting categories. Just as with his first Academy Award win, he also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, in addition to sweeping the majority of critics' prizes. This led to an increase in western villain and other tough guy roles, such as in the films The Firm (1993); Wyatt Earp (1994); The Quick and the Dead, Crimson Tide, and Get Shorty (all 1995).

The remainder of his career saw him tackling a variety of genres, including comedy more frequently. These penultimate films include The Birdcage (1996); Absolute Power (1997); Enemy of the State and a voice role in Antz (both 1998); The Replacements (2000); Heartbreakers, Behind Enemy Lines, and The Mexican (all 2001); and Runaway Jury (2003). One of his last, and most acclaimed roles, was as the patriarch in the ensemble allegory dramedy The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), which garnered him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. (He also received the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award the following year.) His final film was the comedy Welcome to Mooseport (2004), after which Hackman retired from the industry (acting) and remained so up until his death in 2025.

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1961	Mad Dog Coll	Policeman	Uncredited	[1]
1964	Lilith	Norman		[1]
1966	Hawaii	John Whipple		[1]
1967	Banning	Tommy Del Gaddo		[1]
	Community Shelter Planning	Donald Ross	Short film	[2]
	A Covenant with Death	Alfred Harmsworth		[3]
	First to Fight	Sergeant Tweed		[1]
	Bonnie and Clyde	Buck Barrow		[1]
1968	The Split	Lt. Walter Brill		[1]
1969	Riot	"Red" Fraker		[1]
	The Gypsy Moths	Joe Browdy		[1]
	Downhill Racer	Eugene Claire		[1]
	Marooned	"Buzz" Lloyd		[1]
1970	I Never Sang for My Father	Gene Garrison		[1]
1971	Doctors' Wives	Dave Randolph		[1]
	The Hunting Party	Brandt Ruger		[1]
	The French Connection	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle		[1]
1972	Prime Cut	Mary Ann		[1]
	The Poseidon Adventure	Rev. Frank Scott		[1]
	Cisco Pike	Sergeant Leo Holland		[1]
1973	Scarecrow	Max Millan		[1]
1974	The Conversation	Harry Caul		[1]
	Young Frankenstein	Harold, The Blind Man		[1]
	Zandy's Bride	Zandy Allan		[1]
1975	French Connection II	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle		[1]
	Lucky Lady	Kibby Womack		[1]
	Night Moves	Harry Moseby		[1]
	Bite the Bullet	Sam Clayton		[1]
1977	The Domino Principle	Roy Tucker		[1]
	A Bridge Too Far	Stanisław Sosabowski		[1]
	March or Die	Major William Sherman Foster		[3]
1978	Superman	Lex Luthor		[1]
1980	Superman II			[3]
1981	All Night Long	George Dupler		[1]
	Reds	Pete Van Wherry		[1]
1983	Under Fire	Alex Grazier		[1]
	Two of a Kind	God	Voice; uncredited	[4]
	Uncommon Valor	Col. Jason Rhodes, USMC (Ret.)		[1]
	Eureka	Jack McCann		[3]
1984	Misunderstood	Ned Rawley		[1]
1985	Twice in a Lifetime	Harry MacKenzie		[1]
	Target	Walter Lloyd / Duncan "Duke" Potter		[1]
1986	Power	Wilfred Buckley		[1]
	Hoosiers	Coach Norman Dale		[1]
1987	No Way Out	David Brice		[1]
	Superman IV: The Quest for Peace	Lex Luthor / Nuclear Man (voice)		[1]
1988	Bat*21	Lt. Col Iceal Hambleton, USAF		[1]
	Split Decisions	Danny McGuinn		[1]
	Another Woman	Larry Lewis		[1]
	Full Moon in Blue Water	Floyd		[1]
	Mississippi Burning	Rupert Anderson		[1]
1989	The Package	Sergeant Johnny Gallagher		[1]
1990	Loose Cannons	Det. MacArthur 'Mac' Stern		[1]
	Postcards from the Edge	Lowell Kolchek		[1]
	Narrow Margin	Robert Caulfield		[1]
1991	Class Action	Jedediah Tucker Ward		[1]
	Company Business	Sam Boyd		[1]
1992	Unforgiven	Sheriff Bill "Little Bill" Daggett		[1]
1993	The Firm	Avery Tolar		[1]
	Geronimo: An American Legend	Brigadier General George Crook		[1]
1994	Wyatt Earp	Nicholas Porter Earp		[1]
1995	The Quick and the Dead	John Herod		[1]
	Crimson Tide	Captain Frank Ramsey		[1]
	Get Shorty	Harry Zimm		[1]
1996	The Birdcage	Senator Kevin Keeley		[1]
	Extreme Measures	Dr. Lawrence Myrick		[1]
	The Chamber	Sam Cayhall		[1]
1997	Absolute Power	President Alan Richmond		[1]
1998	Twilight	Jack Ames		[1]
	Antz	General Mandible	Voice	[5]
	Enemy of the State	Edward "Brill" Lyle		[1]
2000	Under Suspicion	Henry Hearst	Also executive producer	[1]
	The Replacements	Coach Jimmy McGinty		[1]
2001	The Mexican	Arnold Margolese		[3]
	Heartbreakers	William B. Tensy		[1]
	Heist	Joe Moore		[1]
	Behind Enemy Lines	Admiral Leslie Reigart		[1]
	The Royal Tenenbaums	Royal Tenenbaum		[1]
2003	Runaway Jury	Rankin Fitch		[1]
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Monroe "Eagle" Cole	Final film role	[1]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1959–1962	The United States Steel Hour	Various characters	8 episodes	[6]
1959–1964	Brenner	Officer Richard Clayburn Patrolman Claibourne	3 episodes
1961	Tallahassee 7000	Joe Lawson	Episode: "The Fugitive"	[7]
1961–1963	The Defenders	Jerry Warner / Stanley McGuirk	2 episodes	[6]
1963	Look Up and Live	Frank Collins	Episode: "Look Up and Live"
	Naked City	Mr. Jasper	Episode: "Prime of Life"	[8]
	Route 66	Motorist	Episode: "Who Will Cheer My Bonny Bride?"
	The DuPont Show of the Week	Douglas McCann	Episode: "Ride with Terror"
	East Side West Side	Policeman	Episode: "Creeps Live Here"	[9]
1966	The Trials of O'Brien	Roger Nathan	Episode: "The Only Game in Town"	[10]
	Hawk	Houston Worth	Episode: "Do Not Mutilate or Spindle"
1967	The F.B.I.	Herb Kenyon	Episode: "The Courier"	[11]
	The Invaders	Tom Jessup	Episode: "The Spores"	[6]
	Iron Horse	Harry Wadsworth	Episode: "Leopards Try, But Leopards Can't"
	CBS Playhouse	Ned	Episode: "My Father and My Mother"	[12]
	I Spy	Frank Hunter	Episode: "Happy Birthday Everybody"
	Insight	Holt	Episode: "Confrontation"
1968	Shadow on the Land	Reverend Thomas Davis	Television film	[13]
2007	America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions	Narrator	4 episodes	[14]
2008	Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives	Himself	Episode: "What's for Breakfast?"	[15]
2016	The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima	Narrator	Voice; documentary	[16]
2017	We, the Marines			[15]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1960–1961	The Premise	Various roles	The Premise, Bleecker Street	[17]
1963	Children from Their Games	Charles Widgin Rochambeau	Morosco Theatre, Broadway	[18]
	A Rainy Day in Newark	Sidney Rice	Belasco Theatre, Broadway	[19]
	Come to the Palace of Sin	Performer	Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off-Broadway
1964–1965	Any Wednesday	Cass Henderson	Music Box Theatre / George Abbott Theatre
	Poor Richard	Sydney Caroll	Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway	[20]
1967	The Natural Look	Dr. Barney Harris	Longacre Theatre, Broadway	[21]
	Fragments / The Basement	Baxter / Zach	Cherry Lane Theatre, Off-Broadway
1992	Death and the Maiden	Roberto Miranda	Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Gene Hackman