The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Bonnie And Clyde

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By Sedoso Feb

Hackman is yet another highly acclaimed actor who had a definitive performance in “Bonnie and Clyde.” As Clyde’s older brother Buck, Hackman turns the hair-brained cross-country robbery plan into a family affair, and his death later in the film indicates to both viewers and the titular characters that the end of the road is near. Hackman was already acting before “Bonnie and Clyde,” but the film earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and he’d go on to win Best Actor just a few years later for his part in the William Friedkin thriller “The French Connection.”

Other standout works from Hackman include 1988’s hate crime thriller “Mississippi Burning,” 1992’s Western “Unforgiven,” and Wes Anderson’s much-loved film “The Royal Tenenbaums,” in which Hackman plays eccentric family patriarch Royal Tenenbaum. Hackman has also mixed in some more lighthearted roles over the years, playing a blind man in “Young Frankenstein,” an uptight Republican senator in “The Birdcage,” and more. One of his most-recognized roles is that of Lex Luthor in 1978’s “Superman” movie.

In 2004, Hackman said he’d pretty much retired from acting, and since then his only credits are as a documentary narrator. The artist has kept up a writing career, though, publishing 3 historical fiction novels and counting. He also seemingly remains active, and survived being hit by a car while cycling in 2012. In 2021, Hackman gave a rare interview to The New York Post to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “The French Connection,” writing, “[I] haven’t seen the film since the first screening in a dark, tiny viewing room in a post-production company’s facility 50 years ago.”

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