Just Call Him The 'Hack'Man

Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2001 at 9:08 AM Central

by Heather Koehler

Oscar winner Gene Hackman took his movies to the streets on Monday when a small fender bender turned into a fist-flying brawl.

The Heist star bumped his Volvo into another Volvo at a Hollywood intersection when the driver unexpectedly turned. Both drivers got out of their cars and Gene took the blame. The men walked over to a sidewalk to exchange information when the passenger approached the conversation and suddenly both "confronted him (Hackman), were belligerent and they persisted in their belligerence," stated Dick Guttman, Gene's publicist.

Witnesses say the actor kept his cool until the man shoved him and then Gene hit him four or five times. Both men wrestled the action star to the ground and police arrived on the scene soon after.

No one pressed charges and the men finally split and went their separate ways.