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by bbx 481 days ago
Sometimes I randomly think of a famous person and ask myself "Are they still alive?". I remember doing it for Burt Bacharach and Dick Van Dyke (who's still alive!). This happened last month with Gene Hackman. I had just rewatched "The Conversation" and "The Firm" (so maybe not so random). So I googled him, and apparently he'd basically quit acting 20 years ago.

It was weird to see recent pictures of him. I guess our memory of a retired actor is often skewed since we constantly see them at a younger age in their movies, but rarely (or never) in a recent context. And considering his impact in cinema history, it didn't feel like he'd left the industry at all.

I hope he went away without pain. R.I.P.

4 comments

Dick Van Dyke just did a music video with Coldplay where he danced, pretty wild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeaHfkd3M8
The 4k remaster of the conversation that came out in theatres was so good. I hadn’t seen it before and I was blown away by the end. Super recommend people go to the cinema these days they are doing lots of 4k remasters of classics like this.
I had a weird dream in the wee hours of the morning that all the headlines read "Jack Nicholson dead at 95, days after SNL appearance."

I checked my phone out of curiosity, and Gene Hackman was at the top of Google News.

Wild to think of Mr. Van Dyke as an avid Amiga user as well.