Oscar-winning US actor, wife found dead at home

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (AFP): Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead inside their home in New Mexico, media outlets reported on Thursday.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the couple was found dead on Wednesday afternoon, adding that there was no immediate indication of foul play, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican and Sky News.

Mendoza did not provide a cause of death. The media reports said the couple, who were married since 1991, died along with their dog.

Hackman, who had turned 95 late last month, was once voted as likely to flop in showbiz but instead went on to win two Oscar awards. Arakawa was a 63-year-old classical pianist.

Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday mourned the loss of Hackman. "The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity," Coppola wrote in a post on Instagram. "I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution."

Hackman is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the tough and vulgar New York cop Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the 1971 crime thriller "The French Connection"-for which he won an Oscar for best actor.

He won another golden statuette

two decades later for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the

brutal small-town sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett in the 1992 western "Unforgiven."