Saying goodbye to a friend.
Morgan Freeman tearfully paid tribute to the late Gene Hackman after the “Royal Tenenbaums” actor’s death shocked Hollywood earlier this week.
The “Unforgiven” star reflected on his co-star’s life and career during his Oscars 2025 appearance on Sunday, saying, “This week, our community lost a giant and I lost a dear friend, Gene Hackman.
“I had the pleasure of working alongside Gene on two films, ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Under Suspicion.’ And like everyone who has shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer, a man whose gift elevated everyone’s work.
Freeman, 87, continued, “He received two Oscars, but more importantly, he won the hearts of film lovers all over the world. Gene always said, ‘I don’t think about legacy, I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work.’
“So I think I speak for us all when I say, ‘Gene, you will be remembered for that and for so much more.’ Rest in peace, my friend.”
On Saturday, Hackman’s family revealed that Freeman would honor the actor in an extension of the show’s in memoriam segment, per TMZ.
The outlet also reported that Hackman’s family was not expected to attend the show.
Freeman and Hackman first worked together on the Clint Eastwood-helmed Western in 1992, which earned the latter his second Oscar win.
The two then reunited in the 2000 film “Under Suspicion” before Hackman retired from acting four years later.
Page Six confirmed on Feb. 27 that Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, had been found dead in their New Mexico home along with one of their dogs the previous day. He was 95, while she was 64.
While the actor’s family theorized that they died from carbon monoxide poisoning, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said they did not suspect foul play.
However, hours later, police backtracked and called the case “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search” after “the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened.”
Upon investigation, authorities seized three different medications and two green cell phones from the home. They also took a 2025 monthly planner and MyQuest records, a medical diagnostics service, according to the return and inventory section of the search warrant.
In a Friday press conference, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza revealed that “both individuals tested negative for carbon monoxide.”
He also shared that Hackman’s pacemaker had stopped tracking his heart’s movements on Feb. 17 — just over a week before his and Arakawa’s bodies were found.
As for Arakawa, it’s unclear still how she died as her body was found in a state of decomposition and mummification in the bathroom.
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