Editing Gene Hackman (section)

==Early life and military service==
[[File:Gene Hackman in the USMC.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hackman in the [[U.S. Marine Corps]]]]

Hackman was born on January 30, 1930, in [[San Bernardino, California]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Gene Hackman was born in which San Bernardino hospital? |url=https://www.sbsun.com/2025/03/20/gene-hackman-was-born-in-which-san-bernardino-hospital/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=San Bernardino Sun |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=II |first=Wes Woods |title=Gene Hackman's California connections included San Bernardino, Pasadena |url=https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/california/2025/02/27/oscar-winning-actor-gene-hackman-had-lots-of-california-connections/80699454007/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=The Desert Sun |language=en-US}}</ref> to Anna Lyda Elizabeth ({{nee|Gray}}) and Eugene Ezra Hackman.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Berkvist |first=Robert |date=February 27, 2025 |title=Gene Hackman, Hollywood's Consummate Everyman, Dies at 95 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/obituaries/gene-hackman-dead.html |access-date=February 28, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 28, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250228024113/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/obituaries/gene-hackman-dead.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He had a brother named Richard. Anna, an actress, painter, and pianist, was born in [[Sarnia, Ontario]], Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.com/1940-census/gene-hackman-il-85063191|title=Gene Hackman from Danville in 1940 Census District 92-22|work=archives.com|access-date=August 5, 2014|archive-date=August 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808041228/http://www.archives.com/1940-census/gene-hackman-il-85063191|url-status=live}}</ref> The family moved frequently before eventually settling in [[Danville, Illinois]], where they lived in the house of Anna's English-born mother, Beatrice.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 13, 1904 |title=Anna Lyda Elizabeth Gray – Canada, Births and Baptisms |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F2B2-C2B |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 26, 2014 |website=FamilySearch}}</ref> Hackman's father operated the printing press for the ''[[Commercial-News]]'', a local newspaper. Hackman later stated that he decided to become an actor at the age of 10.<ref name="Deseret News">{{cite news |title=Gene Hackman: Least Likely To Succeed? |url=https://www.deseret.com/1988/8/18/18775376/gene-hackman-least-likely-to-succeed/ |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=August 18, 1988 |access-date=April 12, 2024}}</ref> His parents divorced when he was 13 years old, and his father later left the family.<ref>{{cite news | last=Norman | first=Michael | title=Hollywood s Uncommon Everyman |newspaper=The New York Times | date=March 19, 1989 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/19/magazine/hollywood-s-uncommon-everyman.html | access-date=July 19, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last=Leman | first=Kevin | title=What Your Childhood Memories Say about You: And What You Can Do about It | publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. | year=2007 | page=[https://archive.org/details/whatyourchildhoo00lema/page/154 154] | isbn=978-1-4143-1186-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/whatyourchildhoo00lema/page/154}}</ref>

Hackman spent his [[sophomore year]] at Storm Lake High School.<ref>{{cite web|title=1945 Storm Lake High Yearbook|url=http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Storm-Lake-High-School/137921?page=32|website=classmates.com|access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref> He left home at the age of 16, lied about his age to enlist in the [[U.S. Marine Corps]], and served four and a half years as a field radio operator. Hackman was stationed in China ([[Qingdao]] and later in [[Shanghai]]) as part of [[Operation Beleaguer]]. He later stated that part of his role there was destroying Japanese military equipment so that [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Communist revolutionaries]] did not capture it. After the Communists conquered the mainland in 1949, he was reassigned to [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]] and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vergun |first=David |title=Actor Gene Hackman Served in the Marine Corps in China |date=27 September 2024 |work=www.defense.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of Defense |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3919688/actor-gene-hackman-served-in-the-marine-corps-in-china/ }}</ref> After his discharge in 1951,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApps?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=357785|title= Hackman, Eugene, Cpl|publisher= |website= marines.togetherweserved.com|access-date= November 14, 2017|archive-date= August 1, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200801021039/https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApps?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=357785|url-status= live}}</ref> Hackman moved to New York City, where he worked at various jobs.<ref name="Inside the Actors Studio">Stated on ''[[Inside the Actors Studio]]'', 2001</ref> In 1962, his mother died in a fire she had accidentally started while smoking.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gene Hackman profile |url=http://www.eonline.com/celebrities/profile/index.jsp?uuid=c0858f3a-5eb8-43b9-a2ef-58ff21dbf25c |publisher=Eonline.com |access-date=August 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029002356/http://www.eonline.com/celebrities/profile/index.jsp?uuid=c0858f3a-5eb8-43b9-a2ef-58ff21dbf25c |archive-date=October 29, 2008}}</ref> Hackman began a study of journalism and television production at the [[University of Illinois]] under the [[G.I. Bill]] but left without graduating and moved back to California.<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gene-Hackman |title=Gene Hackman {{!}} Biography, Movies, & Facts |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=April 11, 2020}}</ref>