Friends of Gene Hackman are not remaining silent in the face of recent allegations made against him a year after his death.
Actress Lisa Minnelli accused the actor of being “dismissive” and “rude” to her when they worked together on the 1975 film “Lucky Lady,” but Hackman’s friends say that’s not true.
Gene Hackman, alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa and one of their dogs, was mysteriously found dead in his New Mexico home last February.
It’s been more than a year since Hackman’s death, but he’s facing a new allegation from his former co-star Liza Minnelli, who accused him of being “downright rude” to her in his recently released memoir, “Kids, Wait Until You Hear This!” »
According to a report, Hackman’s Friends are reportedly unhappy with the Broadway icon and have hit back at his claims.
“Gene can’t defend himself,” said a longtime friend of the late actor. “To attack someone who is dead is cowardice. »
“If Liza wants to talk about rude behavior, she should look in the mirror,” a harsher source noted. “It was a nightmare on set.”
Friends of late actor say Liza Minnelli wasn’t ‘easy’ to work with
In the comedy-drama directed by Stanley Donen, the 79-year-old Oscar winner plays Claire, a singer who promises to help two businessmen, Kibby Womack. [Hackman] and Ellison Walker [Burt Reynolds]smuggling alcohol from Mexico to the United States
However, it appears there were some underlying tensions on set, as sources told reporter Rob Shuter that things didn’t really go well because of Minnelli.
“Liza was often late, sometimes sick and not always prepared,” our source said. “Working with someone struggling with addiction is not easy.”
“She wanted to be treated like Hollywood royalty,” they continued. “And when she didn’t understand that, things quickly got difficult.”
Some Broadway insiders also claimed that Minnelli faced such complaints from people who worked with her on “Victor/Victoria.”
“The actors were making themselves sick when they knew she was acting,” said a theater insider. “They joked that they had the flu with a Z.”
What Liza Minnelli Said About Gene Hackman
The “Cabaret” actress wrote in her book that one of the reasons she agreed to star in the film even though she didn’t like it was because she “respected” Hackman’s work, although, as she put it, that feeling “wasn’t mutual.”
“I don’t like to whine, but [director] Stanley [Donen] I later shared publicly that Gene had been very dismissive of me during the film,” she wrote, according to The United States today. “It’s hard to go to work when the chemistry isn’t there. I think it’s fair to say that Gene was downright rude.”
In his book, Minnelli also claims that the film suffered from a “clichéd storyline”, which “cried disaster from page one”, adding: “The powers that be made the old mistake of counting the box office receipts before the film was released – and we all paid the price. »
She continued: “Imagine a movie where the script is bad, the director is increasingly frustrated, there are nasty tensions behind the scenes and, worst of all, you have to spend months – six months – filming on a rickety old boat off the coast of Mexico.”
Burt Reynolds suggested Gene Hackman was tough on Liza Minnelli
Hackman and his wife were found dead in their Santa Fe home in early 2025, and Minnelli notes that she “felt sad” to learn of their deaths.
However, before his death, Burt Reynolds, who died in 2018, claimed in his own memoir “But Enough About Me,” that Hackman was a “good” but “tough” actor who sometimes told Minnelli to shut up, and “we all had to leave the set until he calmed down.”
“Gene is not a bad guy, but he allowed Liza to distract him,” Reynolds continued. “Gene wasn’t the easiest to work with either. You’d do the rehearsal one way, and when you got to the take, he’d say, ‘You’re not going to do it that way, are you?’ He would do that to Liza, and she would break down.
What caused the actor’s death?
Authorities have since said Gene Hackman’s wife, Arakawa, died of hantavirus, while the famous actor died about a week later from a combination of severe heart disease, high blood pressure and advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
“It’s reasonable to conclude that Ms. Hackman succeeded first,” Heather Jarrell, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner, told reporters last year.
The couple’s dog, Zinna, was also found dead. They have since been buried, with reports of legal tensions between Hackman’s children over his estate.