Who was Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s classical pianist wife?

Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, were found dead in their home in New Mexico along with their dog on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The actor was one of Hollywood’s greats with memorable performances in films like 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, 1971’s The French Connection, and 1974’s The Conversation. Arakawa, however, was much more reserved.

What do we know about Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy?

Little is known about Arakawa except that she was a classically trained pianist believed to have been born in Hawaii in 1962. According to the Daily Mail, she was working part-time at a California gym to support her career in classical music when she met Hackman. By 1989, per a New York Times profile published that year, they had been living together for five years, though reports of when they struck up a relationship vary.

Hackman was married to Faye Maltese between 1956 and 1986, but he made sure to make it clear that he did not leave his wife for Arakawa. Rather, they had slowly grown apart because of the demands of the actor’s job. “By the way, I did not leave my real-life wife for a younger woman,” he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel while discussing the similarities between himself and his character in 1985’s Twice in a Lifetime. “We just drifted apart. We lost sight of each other. When you work in this business, marriage takes a great deal of work and love,” he added. The actor had three children from his marriage with Maltese, son Christopher Allen and daughters Leslie Anne and Elizabeth Jean.

Though his career ultimately ended his first marriage, Hackman wasn’t too interested in stardom, and was instead much more concerned with just doing his job, and doing it well. So, by 1989, the actor and Arakawa had moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they enjoyed a quieter life. “Where we live, in Santa Fe, you can lead your own life and not be bothered by the latest gossip,” Hackman told The Irish Independent in 2000.

The New York Times described their home as a “two-bedroom adobe house on a wide brown plain.” In 1990, it was featured in Architectural Digest, where Hackman mentioned his wife’s contribution to its remodelling. Both were very involved in the process and Arakawa would keep Hackman posted on its progress while he was away on set.

Arakawa was also very supportive of Hackman’s second career. After retiring from acting in 2004, the two-time Oscar winner (five times nominated) turned to writing, publishing three historical fiction books with collaborator Daniel Lenihan and two on his own. His wife would provide “unwavering, specific read-throughs,” he told podcast Writer’s Bone in 2014.

They also shared a love for dogs, at one point owning three German shepherds, including one that wandered onto the set of Hackman’s film The Replacements and was named after the actor, per The Baltimore Sun.

Hackman and Arakawa married in 1991 and stayed together until their deaths in 2025. The cause of death is still unknown, though the police have indicated there’s no foul play.