Gene Hackman
(Little Bill Daggett)

Determined to leave villainous characters behind, Academy Award®-winner Gene Hackman at first refused to even read the Unforgiven script. Encouraged by Clint Eastwood, Hackman finally relented and agreed to play the role of the sheriff who is determined to keep peace in his town at all costs.

"I tried to make him human and monster at the same time," Hackman said in an interview with World & I. For his portrayal of the conflicted lawman Hackman received an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award (BAFTA.). This was Hackman's second Oscar® and fifth nomination. Previously, he won Best Actor for The French Connection (1972) and was nominated for I Never Sang for My Father, Mississippi Burning and his breakthrough performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. More recently, he won a Golden Globe -- along with awards from the Chicago Film Critics, the National Society of Film Critics and the American Film Institute -- for his performance as the father of a family of eccentrics in The Royal Tennenbaums.