Throughout his career, Hackman took on a variety of film roles—including Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, comic book villain Lex Luthor in the Superman movies and Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers. He also starred in several Broadway productions, including Children From Their Games, Any Wednesday and Death and the Maiden.
“When I’m actually on the set or on a stage, actually doing the work, I loved that process and I loved the creative process of trying to bring a character to life,” Hackman told Empire in 2009. “And then, when you’re actually shooting or performing, there is a kind of a feeling that comes over you, a confidence and kind of a wonderful, washed-over feeling of wellbeing, if you will. When it’s going well!”
However, the thespian—who also portrayed the patriarch in The Royal Tenenbaums as well as a president in Absolute Power—didn’t get that same feeling with other aspects of the industry.
“Whereas the business part of show business is kinda wicked,” he added. “You jump from trying to be a sponge, if you will, in terms of input from other actors and the director and everything that’s surrounding you, you jump from that to a luncheon meeting with an agent and a producer on another film, or something that’s gone on on the film that you’re doing. It’s kind of a frying pan. It was jarring and at my age and with my health, I decided I didn’t want to do that any longer.”