The recent news of Gene Hackman’s death was an occasion to celebrate the Oscar-winning actor’s long and remarkable career. Hackman is in some of the most memorable films of the past 50 years, from The French Connection (1971) to The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Hoosiers (1986) to the original Superman series, Mississippi Burning (1988) to Unforgiven (1992). He managed to be cool and charming without being especially handsome.

I’d seen many of Hackman’s films but didn’t know anything about his personal life, so I was particularly struck by an anecdote from the Wall Street Journal’s obituary: “Hackman sometimes spoke about his father abandoning his family when he was 13 years old. Driving away, [Hackman’s father] gave his son a casual wave while the boy played in the street. [Hackman] instantly knew his dad wasn’t coming back.”