Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead at their home in the New Mexico city of Santa Fe, police have said.

Hackman, 95, and is wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found dead with their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.

A statement to Sky News said: “We do not believe foul play was a factor in their deaths, however exact cause of death has not been determined at this time.”

Spokesperson Denise Avila said deputies responded to a request to do a welfare check on Wednesday around 1.45pm local time to find the couple and their dog dead at the scene.

Hackman won an Oscar for a leading role in The French Connection, a 1971 action movie by William Friedkin, and another for best supporting actor in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western, Unforgiven.

He was also known for playing Lex Luthor in the Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s.

Roles in the Francis Ford Coppola mystery thriller The Conversation and in the historical drama Mississippi Burning, where he starred as an FBI agent alongside Willem Dafoe, helped cement his career as one of Hollywood’s greats.

Long career

The former US Marine appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage, during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.

He is also remembered for playing Captain Frank Ramsey alongside Denzel Washington in the 1995 thriller Crimson Tide.

In the early 2000s, he starred as an eccentric patriarch in The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson.

Hackman’s final film appearance was in 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport, after which he retired from acting and began co-writing adventure novels with friend and underwater archaeologist Daniel Lenihan.

“It’s very relaxing for me,” Hackman told Empire Magazine in 2020. “I don’t picture myself as a great writer, but I really enjoy the process.”

‘He could play anyone’

Michael Caine revered Hackman as “one of the greatest actors” he had known while presenting him with the Cecil B DeMille Award in 2003.

Arakawa was a classical pianist. The couple married in 1991 and lived outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hackman had three children, Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017.

Star Trek star George Takei said: “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen,” in a tribute on X.

“Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it.

“He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was,” Takei wrote on X.

“He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”

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Irish comedian Dara O Briain called Hackman “the finest screen actor ever”.

“Not a single duff performance, in a long, long career,” he wrote in a post on X.

Hackman was versatile on screen, working with a face that he described to the New York Times in 1989 as that of “your everyday mine worker.”

StudioCanal, the UK arm of the leading European film studio, called Hackman’s death “a colossal loss for cinema” in a tribute posted on X.

Nineties boyband Five are reuniting and will be touring the UK later this year.

The group – made up of Abz Love, J Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon – haven’t performed together for a quarter of a century.

In their heyday, the platinum-selling band topped charts across the globe and sold more than 20 million records worldwide.

Their 12-date UK arena tour, Keep On Movin’ 2025, will begin in Brighton at the end of October, before travelling to Bournemouth, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and London where they will perform at The O2.

They will perform some of their biggest hits, including If Ya Gettin’ Down, Everybody Get Up and international success When The Lights Go Out.

Fans will also be treated to some of their past number ones, with Keep On Movin’, We Will Rock You, and Let’s Dance also on the playlist.

Speaking ahead of the tour, band member Robinson said: “This has been a long time coming and it really does feel right for all of us now – 25 years on, and we’re so ready for it. Reconnecting as a 5 over the last year has been special and I know I speak for all the boys when I say we can’t wait to do this all over again. Hope you’re ready!!”

Abz Love added: “We really can’t wait to get back on stage together & see the fans, it’s gonna go OFF! Buzzing to have Naughty Boy on tour with us too… 5 bad boys and a naughty boy, that sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s gooooo!”

Formed in 1997, Five is the only UK act to hit the Top 10 with all of their 11 singles, including three number ones. Their first and second albums both went double platinum.

Their tour announcement comes 25 years after the band won their first BRIT Award for best British pop act in 2000.

Tickets go on general sale on 7 March, with a pre-sale from 5 March.

Peppa Pig is due to have another sibling soon as Mummy Pig is pregnant for the third time, it’s been announced.

The animated hit show will soon be having another character on the set as Mummy Pig said she was “completely delighted” about having another baby.

For more than two decades, the show has been tracing the story of Peppa Pig, who is aged four and lives with Daddy Pig, Mummy Pig and her little two-year-old brother George.

The voice of the character of Mummy Pig told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m excited to share that our family is getting even bigger because we’re having another baby.

“I’m due in the summer, and we’re all so excited.”

Viewers can expect to see the new baby, whose sex is either still unknown or hasn’t been revealed, on screen in the autumn.

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Mummy Pig said she was a “little overwhelmed at the thought of having three children under five running around, but mostly just completely delighted”.

She added a name is yet to be decided on.

The arrival of a new character was teased on social media with a video of Mummy Pig, who is played by actress and comedian Morwenna Banks, recalling what it was like to have a baby.

Peppa Pig first aired in 2004 on Channel 5 Milkshake and Nick Jr, and is now available in more than 180 territories, along with being broadcast in over 40 languages.

Co-created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, from animation studio Astley Baker Davies, the series has inspired theme parks in the UK and elsewhere as well as being featured on collectable Royal Mail stamps.

Mummy Pig’s pregnancy announcement on the show will be during the final episode of the current series of Peppa Pig, which will air on 30 March, coinciding with Mother’s Day.

When asked if she had shared the news with their other children, she said: “Yes, we weren’t able to keep it a secret for long.

“Peppa knew something was going on, and she’s such a curious thing, we had to tell her before she popped.

“They’ve had the occasional wobble and worry, but they’re mostly so excited.

“Every day they ask me how big the baby is. When is it coming? Does it like dinosaurs and muddy puddles? It never stops.”