The Oscars will pay tribute to Gene Hackman on Sunday’s show, which takes place only four days after the bodies of the actor and his wife were discovered in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
An individual who works on the show and has knowledge of the plans told TheWrap that the late actor, a five-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner, will receive a tribute on the show. It is believed that he will most likely be added to the In Memoriam segment of the ceremony, although typically that film would have been locked a week or two prior to the show.
The Academy never reveals in advance who will be included in the In Memoriam, and it declined to comment when TheWrap asked if Hackman would be a last-minute addition to the show.
The legendary actor, who died at the age of 95, was nominated for Best Actor for “The French Connection” and “Mississippi Burning,” winning for the former film, and for Best Supporting Actress for “Bonnie and Clyde,” “I Never Sang for My Father” and “Unforgiven,” winning for the last of those. He retired from acting in 2004.
The bodies of Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found on Wednesday after no one at their residence answered the door when a maintenance worker arrived. They could have been dead for as long as “a couple of weeks,” according to investigators.
Oscars producer Raj Kapoor previously announced during a press conference that the show would include a musical tribute to the late Quincy Jones, who died in November, only two weeks before the Governors Awards ceremony where he was to receive an Honorary Academy Award.
