The co-star Gene Hackman struggled to work with: “He didn’t like me”
Throughout a career spanning more than five decades in the limelight, Gene Hackman has proven his quality as a Hollywood star time and time again. Possessing widespread versatility and a commanding on-screen presence, Hackman embodied each of his roles with a starting dedication, leading to a reputation as one of American cinema’s greatest icons.
Known and loved for his effort as Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller The French Connection, Hackman was often at the centre of a film’s overall quality, as proven by his further performances in the likes of Unforgiven, Bonnie and Clyde and Mississippi Burning, all of which brought recognition at the Academy Awards.
There was another film for which Hackman was nominated for an Oscar, though, which actually arrived before he won the ‘Best Award’ prize for The French Connection. Hackman starred in Gilbert Cates’ 1970 drama I Never Sang for My Father, based on the 1968 play of the same name by Robert Anderson.
The film tells of a widowed college professor, played by Hackman, who has a problematic relationship with his father, played by Melvyn Douglas. As his father becomes increasingly dependent on him, Gene Garrison longs to pursue his own form of happiness by remarrying and moving to California but finds himself stuck in a tussle of conflicting emotions and parental love.
Hackman was nominated for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’, while his opposite, Melvyn Douglas, also got recognised at the Oscars in the ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ category, with both actors providing stunning portrayals of the inner complexities of family life and the inevitable consequences of ageing.
Interestingly, though, despite the on-screen chemistry between Douglas and Hackman, there had actually been an issue between the two working together on the set of I Never Sang for My Father. In an interview with Film Comment, Hackman was asked about what it was like to star alongside the former leading man of Hollywood, who started playing fatherly figures later in his career.
“I had admired Melvyn so much as an actor, but he didn’t like me,” Hackman said. The actor went on to explain that as the film’s production went on, he found out that Douglas had actually wanted someone else to play the role of his fictional son, and this was something that “hurt” the young actor.
However, the kind of strained relationship that occurred behind the scenes of I Never Sang for My Father contributed to the “tension” of the scenes as filming went ahead, with both actors having to detail the emotional issues that naturally arise when a parent becomes old and ailing and begins to rely on their children more and more.
According to Hackman, he and Douglas “kept away from each other, rarely spoke.” Signing off on his thoughts of featuring next to the Ninotchka, Hud and Being There actor, Hackman noted, “The character I played was actually similar to my own father who, as opposed to Melvyn’s character, was not a real strong guy. So it was strange. At a tribute last month in Las Vegas, I avoided looking at a clip from the picture.”
It’s fair that not all actors are going to get on with one another, but in the case of Hackman and Douglas, their personal dispute actually helped to contribute to the overall tension of the film they starred in together, with both earning an Academy Award nomination in the process.