Gene Hackman won multiple awards, including two Oscars, over his long Hollywood career, in spite of getting a rocky start in the business.
In a sweet tribute to his longtime friend, Dustin Hoffman, 87, revealed a little known detail about the actor, whose death at age 95 was announced on Thursday.
‘I met Gene in acting school, at the Pasadena Playhouse, when he was 27 and I was 19,’ the Kramer vs Kramer star told Deadline.
‘We used to play congas together on the roof, trying to be like our hero Marlon Brando,’ the Megalopolis star recalled.
‘And Gene was like Brando, in that he brought something unprecedented to our craft, something people didn’t immediately understand as genius,’ Hoffman explained, before revealing a shocking detail about their time as students.
‘He was expelled from our school after three months for “not having talent.”‘ the Tootsie actor said, adding, ‘It was the first time they ever did that.’
Dustin Hoffman, 87, has paid tribute to his longtime friend Gene Hackman, who has died at the age of 95. In his tribute, Hoffman revealed that Hackman’s career got off to a rocky start
Hoffman, a two-time Academy Award winner himself said of his longtime pal, ‘He was that good. Powerful, subtle, brilliant. A giant among actors. I miss him already.’
Hackman and Hoffman shared the screen together in 2003’s Runaway Jury with Hoffman starring as an attorney suing a gun manufacturer while Hackman played a corrupt jury consultant.
In the early stages of their careers, Hoffman moved in with Hackman, for a brief time while both were looking for work in New York City.
‘I slept on his floor because he had this small bedroom … he had this little teeny bit larger room where there was the stove with a board over it where you would use to dry dishes,’ Hoffman explained to IGN.
‘Next to the stove was a tub which was also the sink and it had a board over it. So, I would have to take a bath while they were making breakfast, and there was also a toilet next to the bath,’ he said of the tight quarters which didn’t offer much privacy.
‘All he’s thinking about is that when I had to have my morning bathroom, I didn’t care whether they were making eggs or not. He’s held that against me for forty years,’ the Rain Man actor said.
Hackman and Hoffman were also friends with another upcoming star, Robert Duvall.
‘This was coming off of the day with Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson and Troy Donahue and good looking guys and Bonanza,’ Hoffman continued, explaining, ‘We were character types, meaning we’re ugly.’
‘I met Gene in acting school, at the Pasadena Playhouse, when he was 27 and I was 19,’ the Kramer vs Kramer star told Deadline. ‘He was expelled from our school after three months for “not having talent.” It was the first time they ever did that,’ Hoffman said (Pictured circa 1965)
In a 2003 interview with IGN, Hoffman revealed he and Hackman were both booked to work on The Graduate. Hackman was originally cast as Mr. Robinson, but was fired from the job (pictured with Anne Bancroft in 1967)
After the firing, Hackman was quickly cast as Buck Barrow, the older brother of Warren Beatty’s Clyde Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. The role resulted in Hackman’s first Academy Award nomination
‘Speak for yourself,’ Hackman quipped.
In that interview, the pair revealed their first film together should have been 1967’s The Graduate. Hoffman was supposed to play Mr. Robinson, but was fired.
‘I got fired, I think, because I just didn’t fulfill the director’s and the writer’s idea of what the part should’ve been,’ the actor said.
Hackman was nominated for an Oscar five times and won twice for 1971’s The French Connection and 1992’s Unforgiven (Pictured in Los Angeles in 1993)
Hoffman and Hackman finally got to work on a film together in 2003’s Runaway Jury with Hoffman starring as an attorney suing a gun manufacturer while Hackman played a corrupt jury consultant
Hoffman, a two-time Oscar winner himself said of his longtime pal, ‘He was that good. Powerful, subtle, brilliant. A giant among actors. I miss him already’ (Pictured in New Orleans in November 2002
‘In rehearsals, I do a lot of searching around, I try not to perform and I really feel confident in what I’m doing. I mean, you can go first day and perform and probably won’t go further than that.’
‘But the way that we were all trained in the Fifties and Sixties, you needed to keep searching and so, I was doing that, and they decided that I was just taking too much time.’
Luckily, he was immediately picked up to play Buck Barrow, the older brother of Warren Beatty’s Clyde Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.
The role resulted in Hackman’s first Academy Award nomination. He won for his performances in 1971’s The French Connection and 1992’s Unforgiven.