Body camera of law enforcement responding to Gene Hackman and his wife's Betsy Arakawa death in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Forensic experts came to a simple but heartrending conclusion about the manner of death for 95-year-old actor Gene Hackman. He died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease a full week after a rare, rodent-borne disease took the life of his wife at their Santa Fe home.