Two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman isn’t seen out and about often. But the Crimson Tide star, 93, was seen for the second time this week ordering fast food in New Mexico ahead of Sunday’s Oscars. In photos you can SEE HERE, the iconic actor wore a pair of jeans with a red long-sleeved shirt and a dark fleece vest as he ordered at the drive through of a New Mexico area Wendy’s restaurant. The Royal Tenenbaums star accessorized with a simple ball cap and Oakley sunglasses, and a pair of sneakers, and was also seen enjoying his quickie lunch and throwing out his trash.
The longtime Hollywood star, who has appeared in dozens of films over his seven decades as an actor, stepped away and retired from the profession in 2004 after Welcome To Mooseport. Though the movie received a lackluster public reception, he later cited health concerns for retiring. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York.” He told Empire during a 2009 interview. “The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress.”
In 2011, GQ spoke with the Academy Award winner and suggested returning to acting for “one more movie.” “I don’t know,” he replied at the time. “If I could do it in my own house, maybe, without them disturbing anything and just one or two people.”
Perhaps more tellingly, they asked him about an old comment from the 1970s, during which he said he wished he’d “gone into” something else. Did he still feel that way in 2011? “I don’t think so,” he told the outlet. “You go through stages in your career that you feel very good about yourself. Then you feel awful, like, Why didn’t I choose something else? But overall I’m pretty satisfied that I made the right choice when I decided to be an actor. I was lucky to find a few things that I could do well as an actor and that I could look at and say, ‘Yeah, that’s all right.'”