A00010 - Betsy Arakawa, Japanese American Classical Musician and Wife of Gene Hackman
Betsy Arakawa, a Classical Musician and the Wife of Gene Hackman, Dies at 65
As the spouse of a two-time Oscar winner, she avoided interviews and stayed off social media. But in private, she typed up Mr. Hackman’s novels and helped edit them.
Betsy Arakawa, a classical musician and small-business owner who was married to Gene Hackman and helped edit his novels, was found dead with him at their home in Santa Fe, N.M., the local authorities said on Thursday. She was 65.
Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies of Ms. Arakawa and Mr. Hackman, 95, along with one of their dogs, on Wednesday afternoon, according to a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. The cause of death was unclear and under investigation.
Mr. Hackman was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two during a 40-year acting career. In his later years, he became a published author, writing three historical novels, and he attributed his writing style, in part, to Ms. Arakawa.
“If in fact I have a style, it came from repeated edits, friends’ suggestions and my wife’s unwavering, specific read-throughs,” he told the “Writer’s Bone” podcast in 2014.
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Mr. Hackman would write his books with pen and paper, and Ms. Arakawa would type them up on a computer, making edits or sharing thoughts on characters with him, according to Barbara Lenihan, a friend of the couple for nearly 35 years.
“She was very involved with what he did,” Ms. Lenihan said. “She made it very possible for him to do it.”
Betsy Machiko Arakawa was born on Dec. 15, 1959, and grew up in Honolulu. She began playing the piano at a young age. At 11, as a sixth grader at Kahala Elementary School, she performed in front of thousands of students at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, now the Neal S. Blaisdell Center. She later performed with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, now the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra.
After moving to Los Angeles, she attended the University of Southern California from 1981 to 1983, graduating with a degree in social sciences and communication. During that time, she was a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team, and worked as a production assistant on the television game show “Card Sharks,” according to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. She graduated with a master’s degree in liberal arts from St. John’s College in New Mexico in 1991.
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She met Mr. Hackman in the 1980s while she was working part-time at a fitness center in Los Angeles and trying to make it as a classical musician. Mr. Hackman had three children from a previous marriage, and in 1991 he and Ms. Arakawa married and settled in Santa Fe. Her survivors include her stepchildren, Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie, and a grandchild.
In 1989, when she was dating Mr. Hackman, she gave a concert to residents at the retirement home that was used as a German nursing home in his film “The Package.” After they married, she largely stopped performing in public.
Despite being married to a big-name actor, Ms. Arakawa kept her life private, avoiding interviews and staying off social media. She would appear at awards shows with Mr. Hackman, and was often on the set of his movies, but avoided the limelight.
“She had to do a lot of Hollywood things, but she was very private,” Ms. Lenihan said. “I think she could keep the parameters of their life together very well, and he appreciated that.”
In 2001, Ms. Arakawa, who had an eye for interior design, opened Pandora’s, a linens and home furnishings store in Santa Fe, with Ms. Lenihan. The longtime friends were running the store until Ms. Arakawa’s death.
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