Hollywood legend Gene Hackman spoke about his fear of dying years before he was found dead at 95 on Wednesday.
The actor’s wife of 34 years – pianist Betsy Arakawa, 63 – and dog were also found dead with him in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home.
The sheriff’s office said the “exact cause of death has not been determined,” and initially noted that foul play was “not suspected as a factor.” His daughter told TMZ she suspected her father and stepmother died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
However, police wrote in an affidavit obtained by TMZ that the deaths are now being investigated as “suspicious.” The door to their home was “unsecured and opened” and authorities also found open pill bottles scattered through the room. Additionally, two of their dogs were found alive and there was “no obvious sign of a gas leak.”
In newly resurfaced footage from a 2004 interview with Larry King, the “French Connection” star, then 74, was asked if he was worried about his health as he got older.
“I try to take care of myself. I don’t have a lot of fears,” Hackman said at the time. “I have the normal fear of passing away – you know, I guess we all think about that, especially when you get to be a certain age.”
Hackman added, “’I want to make sure that my wife and my family are taken care of. Other than that, I don’t have a lot of fears.”
Hackman and Arakawa did not share children, but Hackman is survived by three adult children he had with his ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017: Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne.
Hackman was known for starring in iconic movies such as “The French Connection,” “Young Frankenstein,” “The Birdcage,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
During his storied career, he won two Oscars and three Golden Globes.
In 2003, Robin Williams and Michael Caine presented him with the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
“Gene Hackman in Hollywood is known as an actor’s actor, but in my house, he’s known as a comedian’s comedian,” Williams said at the time.
“Whether it be comedy or drama, you’re the most gifted actor in America. You’re also a truly superhuman being,” he added.
Before his death, Hackman had retired from acting – his last film was 2004’s “Welcome to Mooseport – and was living a quiet life in New Mexico with his wife.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,” he told Empire in 2009.
“The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”
After quitting acting, Hackman went on to co-write adventure novels such as “Justice For None” and “Wake of the Perdido Star” with his friend, underwater researcher Daniel Lenihan.
“I don’t picture myself as a great writer, but I really enjoy the process, especially on this book. We had to do a great deal of research on it to get some of the facts right,” he told Reuters in a 2008 interview about his novel, “Escape from Andersonville.”
During the same 2004 King interview, Hackman was asked if he knew it was going well while he was filming “The French Connection.”
“Yeah, there was a kind of energy that you can tell,” Hackman said.
“I couldn’t tell you that it was going to be a successful film or not, I don’t think anybody can. But you can tell the scenes work. You just have the feeling that they’re cooking.”
Hackman also said during that same interview, “I have very few regrets, in terms of the career.”
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office told NBC News Thursday that there’s “an active and ongoing investigation” into Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths.
