UKC

Also his wife and dog, reportedly. Strange circumstances.

Do you know something about the circumstances, Tom? 

No, just what was reported. What I was completely unaware of was the degree to which he had turned into a recluse, moving to Santa Fe and then going to ground to the extent that a photo taken of him on a street last year with his wife is alleged to be the only sighting of him for two decades.

V sad... outstanding in The Conversation and many other films.

The French Connection is probably my favourite of his.

A bonafide Hollywood great, a wonderful actor with fantastic range.

It's all bit odd and sad, but he had what sounds like a remarkable life and 95 is a good innings.  His wife and his dog, not so much. 

As an actor I placed him in the same category as Robert de Niro in that their mannerisms c Ould cover all kinds of characters yet they remained essentially the same and as such after a while you needed up watching the actor rather the character they were playing. However, like de Niro, he was brilliant and had some brilliant roles.

A personal favourite is David Mamet's Heist, a typically convoluted Mamet plot with some brilliant acting from a load of his regulars and Hackman as a central character. I haven't seen The French Connection for decades, I'm going to have to remedy that.

RIP to the three of them.

I was really disappointed with Heist! I love Mamet and that was a great cast but it did nothing for me! In terms of slightly less well known ones I liked him in Eureka and (admittedly a cult classic) Night Moves. And 1990’s The Package. 

I think The French Connection II is a sequel that at least equals the original, and Hackman’s performance is even better (the cold turkey scenes are brutal) 

 I wasn't even aware there was a FC2. I'll seek it out, after watching the original again.

it’s totally credible, as it’s in the hands of John Frankenheimer, and has the same “cinema verité” feel, all shot on location mostly in seedy Marseilles. 

I disagree, de Niro started well, but increasingly plays a parody of himself. Hackman never did that, one of the true greats.

Hackman played parodies of himself. And there’s nothing wrong with that 

I think you know that's not what I meant. De Niro has become a parody of himself, Hackman didn't. But it's an RIP thread, leave it there