Tributes began pouring in for Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman after the news of his death broke. 

Hackman was found dead alongside his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Wednesday afternoon.

Hackman was 95 at the time of his death, and his wife 63.

Hollywood mourned Hackman, who boasted over 100 acting credits from his storied career, as one of the greats. Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman, Francis Ford Coppola and more publicly mourned Hackman as questions surrounding the movie star’s death remain unanswered.

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“He was a tough nut, Gene Hackman, but he was really good and he was really difficult,” Murray, who starred alongside Hackman in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” told the Associated Press. “Like, we can say it now, but he was a tough guy because older great actors do not give young directors much of a chance. They’re really rough on ’em,” he explained. “Gene was really rough on Wes and I used to kind of step in there and just try to defend my friend.”

Murray remembered watching Hackman “do like 25 takes where he did it perfectly with an actor who kept blowing it every single time.”

“Gene would do it perfectly, the other actor would blow it, and I’d go like, ‘Oh, God.’ I was watching it going, ‘No wonder this guy wants to throttle people,'” the actor added. “And then he sort of gave an ordinary performance and the other actor got it right, and I thought Gene was going to throw the actor off the ledge of the building.”

While Hackman struggled making the movie with “punk kid” Anderson, the end result was a “good movie.”

“[Hackman] was not an ignorant man, he was a bright guy. When he saw the movie, he had to go, ‘Well, I acted like a jerk.’ I’m sure he did, because when you see the movie, it’s a real piece of work,” Murray said during a separate appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” “Wes Anderson makes great movies and so does Gene Hackman, and you put them both in the same room and what are you going to get? You’re gonna get a good movie.”

“So goodbye, Gene, I hope you’re well wherever you are,” Murray concluded.

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Luke Wilson, who also acted in the 2001 movie “The Royal Tenenbaums” with Hackman, paid tribute in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Marine. Actor. Legend. Gene Hackman could do it all. He stands alone on the mountain with Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson,” Wilson said.

Hackman brought “something unprecedented” to acting, Dustin Hoffman told Fox News Digital.

“I met Gene in acting school, at the Pasadena Playhouse, when he was 27 and I was 19. We used to play congas together on the roof, trying to be like our hero Marlon Brando,” he recalled. “And Gene was like Brando, in that he brought something unprecedented to our craft, something people didn’t immediately understand as genius: He was expelled from our school after three months for ‘not having talent.’ It was the first time they ever did that. He was that good.”

Hoffman continued, “Powerful, subtle, brilliant. A giant among actors. I miss him already.”

Nathan Lane recalled working with Hackman on “The Birdcage.”

“Gene Hackman was my favorite actor, as I think I told him every day we worked together on ‘The Birdcage,’” Lane told Fox News Digital. “Getting to watch him up close it was easy to see why he was one of our greatest. You could never catch him acting. Simple and true, thoughtful and soulful, with just a hint of danger.”

Lane continued, “He was as brilliant in comedy as he was in drama and thankfully, his film legacy will live on forever. It was a tremendous privilege to get to share the screen with him and remains one of my fondest memories. Rest in peace, Mr. Hackman.”

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Francis Ford Coppola, who directed Hackman in the 1974 thriller “The Conversation,” mourned his loss on social media. 

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity, I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution,” he wrote on Instagram with a photo of Hackman on a movie set.

Clint Eastwood, who directed and starred alongside Hackman in the 1992 film “Unforgiven,” also paid tribute to his fellow actor.

“There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much,” he shared in a statement to Variety.

Fellow actor Antonio Banderas shared his condolences to Hackman and his wife.

“A very sad day for the cinema’s family. Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have passed away,” he wrote on Instagram with the photo of the two. “My deepest condolences to friends, family and cinema lovers. RIP.”

Jennifer Love Hewitt noted she was one of the “lucky” actors who got to work alongside Hackman throughout his career. Hewitt and Hackman starred together in the 2001 film “Heartbreakers.”

“I was one of many lucky enough to work with Gene Hackman,” Hewitt told E! News. “He was light and talent and goodness. We will all miss you.”

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade spoke with actor Gary Sinise about Hackman’s death and acting with him in “Quick and the Dead.” Sinise called Hackman his role model, as he spent two days doing a photo shoot for Esquire with the legendary actor. He said Hackman’s work in “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino was his “favorite of all time.”

“Gene was an amazing human being and an amazing actor. I’m very saddened by what’s happened,” Sinise shared on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” “Getting to spend time with him was a true honor and privilege.”

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Sinise mentioned Hackman supported his role when he starred in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Director Edgar Wright called Hackman “The greatest…” on X.

Director Paul Feig called Hackman’s death “so awful,” as he paid a heartfelt tribute to the late actor.

“Gene was such an inspiration to so many of us who love movies. So many brilliant roles. His performance in ‘The Conversation’ alone changed the way I looked at acting and what actors could bring to a role. Such an amazing career. RIP Mr. Hackman,” he wrote.

Actor Viola Davis took to Instagram and wrote, “Loved you in everything! ‘The Conversation,’ ‘The French Connection,’ ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ ‘Unforgiven’ — tough yet vulnerable. You were one of the greats. God bless those who loved you. Rest well, sir.”

“We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it,” “Star Trek” actor George Takei wrote Thursday morning on X. “He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”

The Santa Fe police confirmed that foul play is not suspected as a factor in the deaths at this time, but the cause of death has not been determined. An investigation is ongoing.

“On February 26, 2025 at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital early Thursday morning. 

Hackman was best known for his Oscar-winning performances in “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven.” He appeared as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

Hackman also had a breakout performance in “Bonnie and Clyde,” a comic interlude in “Young Frankenstein,” a turn as the comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” and a lead role in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

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Eugene Alden Hackman was born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California, and grew up in Danville, Illinois, where his father worked as a pressman for the Commercial-News. His parents fought repeatedly, and his father often used his fists on him to take out his rage, according to The Associated Press. The boy found refuge in movie houses, identifying with Errol Flynn and James Cagney as his role models.

With a high school degree he earned during his time as a Marine, Hackman enrolled in journalism at the University of Illinois. He dropped out after six months to study radio announcing in New York. After working at stations in Florida and his hometown of Danville, he returned to New York to study painting at the Art Students League. Hackman switched again to enter an acting course at the Pasadena Playhouse.

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Hackman’s first starring film role came in 1970 with “I Never Sang for My Father,” as a man struggling to deal with a failed relationship with his dying father, Melvyn Douglas.

In 1956, Hackman married Fay Maltese, a bank teller he had met at a YMCA dance in New York. They had a son, Christopher, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, but divorced in the mid-1980s. In 1991, he married Betsy Arakawa, a classical pianist of Japanese descent who was raised in Hawaii.

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When not on film locations, Hackman enjoyed painting, stunt flying, stock car racing and deep sea diving. In his latter years, he wrote novels and lived on his ranch in Sante Fe on a hilltop looking out on the Colorado Rockies.

Fox News Digital’s Gregory Norman-Diamond and Christina Shaw plus the Associated Press contributed to this report.