{"id":833980,"date":"2025-03-14T12:12:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T17:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/mel-brooks-recalls-gene-hackmans-perfect-young-frankenstein-performance-i-was-over-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T12:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T17:12:32","slug":"mel-brooks-recalls-gene-hackmans-perfect-young-frankenstein-performance-i-was-over-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/mel-brooks-recalls-gene-hackmans-perfect-young-frankenstein-performance-i-was-over-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Brooks Recalls Gene Hackman\u2019s \u201cPerfect\u201d \u2018Young Frankenstein\u2019 Performance: \u201cI Was Over The Moon\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tAlthough Gene Hackman<\/a>\u2018s legacy includes a myriad of masterful dramatic performances, he also managed to elicit some laughs during his storied career.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the 2x Oscar winner\u2019s death at age 95<\/a>, writer-director Mel Brooks<\/a> reminisced about working with Hackman on his Academy Award-nominated 1974 comedy classic Young Frankenstein<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was privileged to know Gene Hackman because he played tennis with another Gene\u2014Gene Wilder<\/a>. And that Gene told him about a little role called The Blind Hermit in our movie YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN<\/em>,\u201d wrote Brooks on X<\/a>. \u201cHe said, \u2018Do you think Mel would let me play it? I\u2019ve always wanted to do a comedy.\u2019 Needless to say, I was over the moon and he was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tWatch on Deadline\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\tStarring the late Wilder as the titular doctor from Mary Shelley\u2019s literary source material, Young Frankenstein<\/em> also featured performances from Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman, as well as Brooks. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Thursday, Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead<\/a> at their Santa Fe, NM home, along with one of their dogs. Arakawa\u2019s body was discovered with an open pill bottle and pills scattered next to her.<\/p>\n

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I was privileged to know Gene Hackman because he played tennis with another Gene\u2014Gene Wilder. And that Gene told him about a little role called The Blind Hermit in our movie YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. He said, \u201cDo you think Mel would let me play it? I\u2019ve always wanted to do a comedy.\u201d\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/hjDHROS6GA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) February 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tAlthough no foul play is expected and the couple suffered \u201cno external trauma<\/a>,\u201d a cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, but Santa Fe Sheriff\u2019s Department said the circumstances are \u201csuspicious enough<\/a>\u201d to warrant further investigation.<\/p>\n

\n\tHackman, who was married to Arakawa since 1991, is survived by three children, Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with late ex-wife, Maltese.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Glenn Garner
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although Gene Hackman\u2018s legacy includes a myriad of masterful dramatic performances, he also managed to elicit some laughs during his storied career. Following the 2x Oscar winner\u2019s death at age 95, writer-director Mel Brooks reminisced about working with Hackman on his Academy Award-nominated 1974 comedy classic Young Frankenstein . \u201cI was privileged to know Gene<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":833981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3139,1313],"tags":[18057,5627],"class_list":{"0":"post-833980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooks","8":"category-recalls","9":"tag-brooks","10":"tag-recalls"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}