Five years after Gene Hackman made his last movie, he explained his decision to retire from acting to Empire, admitting that one fateful medical test changed his life. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress,” Hackman said, adding that he passes the time watching, “DVDs that my wife rents.”
However, sitting around watching movies with second wife, Betsy Arakawa, is not the only thing Hackman, now 91, has done during his years away from the camera. He also found a second career as an author, writing novels with his friend, Daniel Lenihan. Hackman’s last novel, “Pursuit,” was released in 2013, according to Best Life.
Hackman even made a bit of a comeback in 2021 thanks to social media and “The French Connection.”
