Gene Hackman Admits To Slapping Homeless Man

Gene Hackman, 82, is a traditional kind of guy, so you best not go insulting his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 51, as one homeless man in in Santa Fe, N.M., found out the hard way when Hackman reportedly slapped him after he approached the couple and used a not-so-nice word in reference to Arakawa, his wife since 1991.

Santa Fe's Sgt. Andrea Dobyns says that the homeless man, identified by the Los Angeles Times as Bruce Becker, 63, called police around 1:30 p.m. to say that he had been assaulted by Hackman, and officers reportedly went to a nearby restaurant where Hackman was still having a meal, reports E! Online.

Hackman reportedly admitted that he had given the man "more like a slap than a punch," after he heard the nasty word the man used to describe his wife. Hackman was reportedly not arrested for the incident, and it appeared that Becker was not injured. "It looked like Mr. Hackman did this purely out of self-defense to protect himself and his wefe," said Dobyns.

Two-time Oscar winner Hackman, who won Best Actor for The French Connection in 1971 and again for Unforgiven in 1993, last appeared in 2004's Welcome to Mooseport, a comedy costarring Ray Romano and Maura Tierney, but he is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Lex Luthor opposite Christopher Reeve's Superman in the 1970s and 80s iconic Superman franchise, as well as the eponymous Royal Tenenbaum in the modern Wes Anderson classic, The Royal Tenenbaums, with the all-star cast of Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Kumar Pallana and Alec Baldwin.

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