Editor’s Note
Personal items from the estate of the late, legendary actor Gene Hackman will be offered at auction this November.
Personal items belonging to Hollywood legend Gene Hackman, who passed away earlier this year, will be auctioned in November.
The auction, organized by the house Bonhams, will sell some of the items found at the residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the actor was found deceased alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
According to Bonhams, a selection of Hackman’s possessions will be auctioned in three separate events: one live and two online.
Among the items, three of the four Golden Globes he won for works such as “Unforgiven,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” and an honorary Cecil B. DeMille award stand out.
Along with the Golden Globe for “The Royal Tenenbaums,” a certificate and congratulatory letters sent by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will be included.
The collection also features personal and intimate objects, such as a wristwatch that Hackman apparently wore shortly before his death. This includes two watches: a stainless steel Seiko dive watch model nicknamed “Pepsi” for its red and blue bezel, and a Seiko Prospex automatic dive watch, also without a strap.
Among the most notable items in his collection are 13 artworks by renowned American and modernist artists, including pieces by Milton Avery, Auguste Rodin, and Richard Diebenkorn.
According to the auction house, Hackman had a lifelong passion for art, though he dedicated himself more intensely to collecting after retiring.
The “Gene Hackman” collection includes works of contemporary and post-war art, Western and Native American art, photography, and prints.
Among the most anticipated pieces of the auction is the painting “Figure On The Jetty” by American modernist Milton Avery (1885–1965), depicting a solitary person on a dock looking out to sea. It is estimated to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000.
Also notable is the color print “Green” (1986) by Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993), with an estimated value of $300,000 to $500,000. Hackman owned another work by the same artist, “High Green, Version II” (1992), estimated at $70,000 to $90,000.
Another remarkable piece is “Horizontal Rectangles 81-A” (1981) by Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer (1912–1997), an oil and charcoal painting in a quilted style, valued between $50,000 and $70,000.
The legendary French sculptor Auguste Rodin is also represented with a large-scale bronze, which could sell for $200,000 to $300,000.
The attempt to auction Gene Hackman’s possessions comes after a Daily Mail report revealed that his estate had significant credit card debt.
In May, it was reported that Hackman’s children—Christopher, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne—opted for a secret funeral. The Oscar winner was buried in an unmarked grave alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa.
The auctions arrive eight months after the tragic death of Gene Hackman, which occurred in February at the age of 95.
Investigations determined that his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died at their home around February 12 due to respiratory symptoms of hantavirus, a disease transmitted by rodent feces.
Hackman, who was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, did not seek help and remained beside his wife’s body until his own death around February 18, according to the final readings from his pacemaker. The bodies were discovered on February 26.
The actor’s cause of death was heart disease along with complications from kidney failure and Alzheimer’s.