Hackman and Arakawa had been married since 1991. The former had celebrated his 95th birthday in late January, but a public sighting last year drew concern form some fans over how frail he appeared.<\/p>\n
Hackman spent four amazing decades in Hollywood forming a stellar body of work. The actor and author retired from his career in front of the cameras quietly in the late 2000s. He did so after hinting in a 2004 Larry King interview that he had no productions lined up for the future.All told, the actor featured in over 70 films over the course of his career. He won multiple awards, including the coveted Oscar for Best Actor in The French Connection as well as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood\u2019s Unforgiven.<\/p>\n
In 2009, Hackman shared that the reason behind his taking a step away from the bright lights of Hollywood was a stress test which alarmed his doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe straw that broke the camel\u2019s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,\u201d he told Empire. \u201cThe doctor advised me that my heart wasn\u2019t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following his retirement, Hackman turned his attentions to less-stressful endeavors including painting, fishing and writing.<\/p>\n
Of writing, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s very relaxing for me. I don\u2019t picture myself as a great writer, but I really enjoy the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one you can kind of manage, because you\u2019re sitting there by yourself, as opposed to having 90 people sitting around waiting for you to entertain them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hackman is survived by his three children, Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese.<\/p>\n