A couple weeks ago, I started blogging 4-5 posts ahead, scheduling everything in advance to post at 7:00am each morning. The reason I did this was because I had a work project I was trying to finish, and knew I might have to skip a day or two here and there. I care like that.

On the 27th of February I re-scheduled the post that was due to publish so I could recognize Gene Hackman dying, and my blog apparently did not like this. My post never published. No subsequent posts published. Everything was broken somehow.

Now, over a week later, I finally had the time to re-install WordPress, copy my database from backup, and verify that everything is working again.

Except I lost all the posts I wrote in advance, because they weren't in the backup I had.

Lovely.

Rather than going back and trying to remember what I was talking about in those posts, I decided to just start over again from today.

By recognizing the passing of Gene Hackman.

The guy is one of my all-time favorite actors. I had likely seen him before he played Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (probably in The Poseidon Adventure) but it was his Lex Luthor that made me remember his name...

He was absolutely brilliant in the role. Menacing but not overly-scary for a comic book villain. His delivery of his every line was crafted to push his character forward, and I loved him for it. In the sequel he was no longer the main villain, but managed to steal absolutely every scene he was in.

But that was true for most all his movies. He was so compelling an actor that playing opposite him was a daunting prospect. You knew you were getting eclipsed.

The first headlining role I recall him having was in Hoosiers, which I've seen a ridiculous number of times because it's such a great movie and he's great in it. But the film that made me most appreciate his flexibility is the Kevin Costner classic No Way Out. He has a critical, but relatively small role that cemented him as one of my all-time favorite actors. From there he just kept rolling through all these memorable roles where he killed it every time... Unforgiven, The Firm, Wyatt Earp, and Crimson Tide.

And then came the back-to-back brilliance of his finest comedic works... Get Shorty and The Birdcage. He played a lot of villains, but his comedy chops never faltered (the movie Heartbreakers, which isn't a great film, had his most hysterical role).

Mr. Hackman's final film was Welcome to Mooseport from 20 years ago, which I didn't care for... but before that he worked with one of my heroes, director Wes Anderson, on The Royal Tenenbaums and had a great part in the very good adaptation of John Grisham's Runaway Jury. Not a bad way to end a prestigious career.

When it comes to actors, Gene Hackman will very much be missed. Rest in Peace, sir.