Oscars 2025: Morgan Freeman Pays Tribute to His 'Friend' Gene Hackman: 'I Speak For Us All When I Say...'

Morgan Freeman honored Gene Hackman at the 2025 Oscars, reflecting on his legacy days after the actor and his wife were found dead in their Santa Fe home under mysterious condition.

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Updated on Mar 03, 2025 | 09:14 AM IST | 12.6K

Morgan Freeman pays tribute to Gene Hackman (Getty Images)

Trigger Warning: This article mentions unsettling details of death.

Morgan Freeman honored Gene Hackman at the 2025 Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2, opening the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment by saying that the film community had lost a giant.

Last week, Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, were found deceased in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The question of how they died has consumed Hollywood since their bodies were recovered by authorities in a mummified condition, suggesting they had seemingly passed away days prior.

Freeman appeared with Hackman in the 1992 Western Unforgiven, which won Hackman his second Oscar. The duo’s collaboration continued with the 2000 thriller Under Suspicion.

“Like everyone who ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work,” Freeman, 87, said. Calling Hackman a “dear friend,” the actor noted that he once said he did not think about his legacy but hoped he would be remembered as “someone who tried to do good work.”

“So I think I speak for us all when I say, Gene, you’ll be remembered for that and for so much more,” Freeman said.

The producers of the Oscars had only a few days to decide how they would honor one of the titans of cinema. On Wednesday, law enforcement found Hackman’s body in the mudroom of his home, next to his cane and sunglasses, per The New York Times. His wife’s body was discovered in a bathroom near an open prescription bottle, with pills scattered on the countertop.

An examination of Hackman’s pacemaker suggested that the actor had died on February 17, the Santa Fe sheriff said, per the outlet. A detective wrote in an affidavit that Ms. Arakawa’s body had shown signs of decomposition and that Mr. Hackman’s showed similar signs of death.

An investigation is currently underway to piece together a timeline. Authorities are reportedly interviewing the couple’s contacts while awaiting toxicology and autopsy reports.