An investigation was underway on Thursday after the prolific actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead along with their dog at a house in New Mexico, the local authorities said.
The bodies of Mr. Hackman, 95, and Ms. Arakawa, 64, were found by sheriff’s deputies in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The couple had lived in the Santa Fe area for years.
Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said in a phone interview that an associate of Mr. Hackman and his family had placed an emergency call on Wednesday afternoon after discovering the bodies of the actor and his wife.
Sheriff Mendoza said that the two were found in separate rooms, with one of their dogs dead in a kennel. Two other dogs were alive, he said. Sheriff Mendoza said that there were no obvious signs of trauma to the bodies and that no note had been found. The sheriff said that the home was continuing to be searched on Thursday.
“At this stage in the process there isn’t anything obvious like that,” he said. “The autopsy is going to tell us more.”
Before entering the home, the sheriff’s department received confirmation from the fire department and the gas company that it was safe to enter.
“We’re not going to guess this was an accident or natural causes,” he said. “It wasn’t typical.”
A previous statement sent out early Thursday by the sheriff’s office said that foul play was not suspected.
The couple was found in their home in a secluded neighborhood high above downtown Santa Fe, with winding roads and views of the mountains.
Mr. Hackman moved to Santa Fe County in the 1980s after filming some movies there. After he quietly retired from Hollywood more than two decades ago, he wrote several historical adventure novels with a friend. He was seen from time to time in downtown Santa Fe.
One of Hollywood’s classic “Everyman” actors, Mr. Hackman was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two during a 40-year career. His appeared in films that were seen by millions, including “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The French Connection,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Unforgiven,” “Superman,” “Hoosiers” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
