Who Was Faye Maltese?
Faye Maltese was the first wife of Gene Hackman, one of the greatest film actors of his generation, and the mother of his three children. She was married to Hackman for thirty years, from 1956 until their divorce in 1986, through the uncertain years before fame and his first two decades of stardom. Yet she lived almost her entire life outside the spotlight, never giving interviews, never writing a memoir, never trading on her famous name. What is known comes from marriage and divorce records and Hackman’s own interviews. Several details other websites state as fact, including her exact date of birth, are reported differently from one site to another. More celebrity life stories can be found in the Celebrity section of this site and on the homepage.
Faye Maltese Quick Facts
| Full name | Faye Maltese (middle name Philippa reported, unconfirmed) |
| Born | 1928, New York, United States (exact date not verified) |
| Died | 26 April 2017, aged 88 (cause of death not publicly announced) |
| Occupation | Bank secretary at Rockefeller Center, New York |
| Spouse | Gene Hackman, married 1956, divorced 1986 |
| Children | Christopher Allen (1960), Elizabeth Jean (August 1962), Leslie Anne (October 1966) |
| Known for | First wife of Gene Hackman; mother of his three children |
Faye Maltese Early Life
Faye Maltese was born in New York in 1928, per the strongest available source. The exact day is not confirmed: one site says 18 December 1928, another says 1929, and a third says 1 January 1928 and age 89 at death. None cites a birth certificate or any other primary source. Some biographies say she came from a large Italian-American family, one of eleven children, but no authoritative source confirms this. What is documented is her working life: in the mid-1950s she was a secretary at a bank in Rockefeller Center, and for the first years of her marriage she was the steady earner while her husband tried, and repeatedly failed, to make a living as an actor.
How Faye Maltese Met Gene Hackman
Faye Maltese met Gene Hackman in 1955 at a Y.M.C.A. dance in New York City. Hackman was 25, a former United States Marine who had left the service in 1951 and was trying to become an actor. He had no money and no reputation, and lived in New York with two other struggling young actors, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. She did not marry a star, but a penniless ex-Marine who had enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse, where instructors reportedly told him he was unlikely to succeed. She knew him before the fame, the money, the Oscars and the long absences on film sets.
Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman Marriage
Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman married in 1956, a year after they met at the Y.M.C.A. dance. Some websites give 1 January 1956, but that comes from a single low-authority source, so this article records only the year. They began married life with very little: Hackman worked odd jobs while she kept the household going on her wages, and his breakthrough did not come until Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, eleven years after the wedding, when he was 37 and played Buck Barrow.
What followed came fast. The French Connection (1971) made Hackman a star and won him the Academy Award for Best Actor as Popeye Doyle. He played Lex Luthor in Superman and the coach in Hoosiers, and won a second Oscar for Unforgiven in 1992. But success changed the marriage: Hackman was often away on location for months, leaving her to run the household and raise the children largely alone.
Faye Maltese Children
Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman had three children: Christopher Allen, born in 1960, Elizabeth Jean, born in August 1962, and Leslie Anne, born in October 1966. All three were born before Bonnie and Clyde, in the lean years when their father was still unknown; none followed him into acting. Like Elizabeth Huberdeau, the first wife of John Cena, and Melissa Womer, the first wife of Jim Carrey, she was a private woman whose public profile came almost entirely through a famous husband. Christopher Allen once thought about acting — his father wrote him a few monologues in New York — but did not pursue it. Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne have lived private lives away from Hollywood.
Hackman once said it is tough being the son or daughter of a celebrity. Leslie Anne was her father’s date at the 1984 Golden Globe Awards and the premiere of Class Action in 1991, and later credited her stepmother, Betsy Arakawa, with keeping her father alive and healthy in his old age.
Faye Maltese and the Price of Fame
She married a man with nothing, supported him while he had nothing, then watched success pull him away from the family for months at a time. The marriage did not fail in a single moment: the couple drifted apart over years, spending periods living separately. A report after Hackman’s death noted she had been seen in public with him only twice before fame changed their marriage, including a 1980 photograph among their last public appearances as husband and wife.
Faye Maltese Divorce
After thirty years of marriage, Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman divorced in 1986. Neither ever made the reasons public. Reports say they had lived apart for periods before the divorce, and the marriage had been strained for years by long absences and the pressures of his career.
Hackman answered one question himself, more than once. Because he met his second wife, Betsy Arakawa, in 1984, as his first marriage was ending, some suggested he had left Faye Maltese for a younger woman. Hackman denied that directly, as reported by Parade. Speaking about his character in the 1985 film Twice in a Lifetime, he said, “By the way, I did not leave my real-life wife for a younger woman.” In a 2021 interview he said of his first marriage, “We just drifted apart.”
Hackman had met Betsy Arakawa, a classical pianist, at a Los Angeles fitness centre in 1984. After his divorce, he dated Arakawa for seven years and married her on 1 December 1991, a marriage lasting almost thirty-four years, until both died in February 2025. Faye Maltese never remarried, as far as any public record shows.
Faye Maltese Life After Divorce
Very little is reliably documented about Faye Maltese after her divorce in 1986 — she chose privacy, and privacy is what she got. One biography says she settled in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, but that comes from a single low-authority source and is unconfirmed. She did not seek publicity, publish anything about her marriage, or appear in the media. She stayed close to her children and saw her grandchildren grow up, outside the public record. She said nothing publicly about his career, his second marriage, or his 2004 retirement from acting.
Faye Maltese Death
Faye Maltese died on 26 April 2017, at the age of 88. Her death was reported at the time and confirmed after Hackman’s own death in 2025. No cause of death was ever publicly announced. Some sites suggest natural causes, plausible for a woman of 88, but that is speculation, not a confirmed fact. She died quietly, as she had lived, eight years before her former husband died in February 2025.
Gene Hackman Death in 2025 and the Children’s Tribute
Gene Hackman died in February 2025, at the age of 95. He and his second wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 26 February 2025, along with one of their dogs. They had died about a week apart, both of natural causes. Betsy Arakawa, 65, had died first, on or around 11 February 2025, of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hackman died on 18 February 2025 of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor. The New Mexico chief medical examiner, Dr Heather Jarrell, announced the findings on 7 March 2025, as reported by SRN News.
The next day, his children spoke publicly. Elizabeth and Leslie Hackman, with their father’s granddaughter Annie, released a statement shared with People magazine: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy. He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.” Leslie also spoke to the Daily Mail, saying of her stepmother, “They had a wonderful marriage. And I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive.” The statement was widely reported, including by Hello Magazine. Hackman’s 2005 will left everything to Betsy Arakawa, and in March 2025 his son Christopher hired a trust and estate attorney, though court papers named all three children as his heirs.
Faye Maltese Net Worth
There is no verified figure for Faye Maltese’s net worth, and no website stating one should be trusted. She was a bank secretary who became a homemaker, with no public career, business or book deal that would leave a financial record. No probate record or reliable report gives a figure for her wealth, and her 1986 divorce settlement was never made public. Some biography sites attach invented dollar figures to her name, but they disagree with one another and cite no source. Nobody outside her family knows, and any site that claims otherwise is guessing.
Faye Maltese Legacy
She is remembered, when she is remembered at all, as the woman who was there before the fame. She married Gene Hackman when he had nothing, kept the family going on a secretary’s wages, raised three children through the years of struggle, and stepped out of the story when the marriage ended, asking nothing of the public. Without her steadiness in the 1950s, his career might not have survived to reach Bonnie and Clyde. Her children grew up largely outside Hollywood, built private lives, and stayed close to their father. Her story belongs alongside other first wives of famous men, such as Sonji Roi, the first wife of Muhammad Ali. She never wanted to be famous. She wanted a family, and for thirty years she had one.
Frequently Asked Questions About Faye Maltese
Who was Faye Maltese?
Faye Maltese was the first wife of actor Gene Hackman, married from 1956 until their divorce in 1986, and the mother of his three children.
How long were Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman married?
Thirty years, from 1956 until their divorce in 1986. They met in 1955 at a YMCA dance in New York City.
Did Faye Maltese and Gene Hackman have children?
Yes — Christopher Allen (born 1960), Elizabeth Jean (born August 1962) and Leslie Anne (born October 1966). None of the three became actors.
When did Faye Maltese die?
Faye Maltese died on 26 April 2017, at the age of 88. No cause of death was publicly announced.
Did Faye Maltese remarry after her divorce from Gene Hackman?
No. There is no public record of her remarrying; she appears to have remained single after the divorce in 1986.
What was Faye Maltese’s net worth?
No verified figure exists. She was a bank secretary and homemaker, and her 1986 divorce settlement was never made public.
Conclusion
Faye Maltese spent thirty years married to a man who became one of the greatest actors of his time, and thirty-one years living quietly afterwards. She was the steady presence in his life when he had nothing but ambition, and the mother who raised his three children through poverty and fame. She died in 2017, eight years before the world lost Gene Hackman, but her part in his story is not a footnote. It is where his story began.
