Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s last photo together gives rare insight into marriage

Their last picture was taken on March 28, 2024, with the then-94-year-old looking somber as he left the Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center of New Mexico with Betsy by his side.

Gene was walking with a cane by that point, and the appointment lasted a little over an hour before they left and went for a dinner date.

Betsy, who played the piano for many years professionally, was 62 and looked chic in jeans, brown heeled boots and a button-up southwestern-style shirt. Gene kept his look casual in a plaid shirt tucked into hiking pants. 

Together they walked with the ease of a couple comfortable with each other, with Betsy staying close to Gene and at one point offering him a guiding arm in case he needed it. 

Following their dinner, Gene reportedly enjoyed a long evening drive by himself through the desert, which he had called home for decades.

Gene previously lived in Montecito, California but bought 12 acres of land north of Santa Fe in the late 1980s. 

The home had a 360-degree view that on a clear day showed the mountains of Colorado, and he told Architectural Digest that he found a “magic” in the area after working there on several films.

Together with Betsy and two architects, they began to build their dream home, sharing that informality and openness were key.

“I wanted a big room with a great-hall feeling, with other rooms opening off it, not closed off with a lot of walls,” said Gene of the only home he ever lived in with Betsy. “It’s totally different from my other houses. The Montecito house was very formal.”

Gene and Betsy also spent a lot of time traveling and would buy beautiful items from antiques shops around the globe, and auctions, with which they furnished their home.

“Other things came from auctions in New York, an antiques shop in Germany that Betsy and I found, and from Los Angeles. It’s a nice combination of soft southwestern pieces and hard-edged antiques,” said Gene.

Gene retired from Hollywood, confirming the news in 2008 as he published his third novel,  Escape from Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War.

He had written his first three with friend Daniel Lenihan, and his two final books were solo projects, released in 2011 and 2019.

Betsy and Gene were happy to welcome guests into their home, however, with Gene once admitting in 2011 that he would consider shooting a movie again “if I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.”

He briefly came out of retirement to narrate two documentaries The Unknown Flag Raiser of Iwo Jima (2016) and We, the Marines (2017).

Gene and Betsy were found dead on Thursday February 27, 2025.

A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said: “In the early hours of Thursday, February 27 2025, Hackman and Arakawa were transported to the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI). An autopsy was performed. Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual.”

Foul play was not suspected although an active investigation remains open as the deaths have been ruled “suspicious”.

A warrant revealed that there were “no obvious signs of a gas leak,” although Gene’s eldest daughter Elizabeth Jean had speculated that carbon monoxide poisoning may have been the cause.