Hollywood and film fans everywhere are still reeling from the unexpected death of film legend Gene Hackman at 95. While we’re two decades away from Hackman’s final film, the 2004 satire Welcome to Mooseport, it caps a long history of complex, pathbreaking, and wide-ranging roles. As senior partner Avery Tolar in The Firm, conservative Senator Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage, ant military leader General Mandible in Antz, or paranoid ally Edward “Brill” Lyle in Enemy of the State, Hackman refused to be typecast. A consummate performer who disappeared into his characters, he could land a charismatic joke as easily as making an audience wince with his icy stare.

It’s the right time to honor the career of the acting legend, whose performances gave life to some of the best movies and most memorable characters in film history. With so many film and TV appearances (alongside the fact that he was always top-notch in each), there’s surely subjectivity involved in any list of this variety. Even so, Hackman was always one of the most eminently watchable actors in film history, showcasing incredible range in his decades-long film career. Here are Hackman’s top five performances, each unmissable, with one additional, honorary entry to boot.

Honorary Mention: Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers (Dir. David Anspaugh, 1986)

I clearly remember the first two characters I saw Gene Hackman portray, both of which I watched with my dad as an adolescent and a neophyte film fan. The first is Hackman’s turn as Lex Luthor in the 1978 classic Superman (we’ll get there), and the second is his role as Coach Norman Dale in the basketball drama Hoosiers, centering on a small-town team with big dreams in Hickory, Indiana. Hoosiers remains an all-timer sports drama, anchored by Hackman’s passionate performance. Hackman’s pre-game motivational speech about what it really means to be a winner is one of cinema’s best pep-talks, well worth an honorary nod here.

5. Harry Caul, The Conversation (Dir. Frances Ford Coppola, 1974)

Frances Ford Coppola is rightfully renowned for his trilogy of The Godfather films, but The Conversation is another of the director’s most impactful works. The film centers around a surveillance and wiretapping expert, Hackman’s Harry Caul, who records for clients but never gets involved. One fateful day, he becomes convinced that his recording has suggested a dangerous murder plot. Cue a twisty and increasingly paranoid journey for Caul where (like any good neo-noir) nothing is exactly as it seems. As a well-meaning protagonist well out of his depth, Hackman adeptly portrays a man at the end of his ever-tightening rope and effortlessly carries us along for the ride.

4. Royal Tenenbaum, The Royal Tenenbaums (Dir. Wes Anderson, 2001)

Dysfunctional characters are Wes Anderson’s forte, and few are as dysfunctional as the Tenenbaums. In The Royal Tenenbaums, Hackman plays errant patriarch Royal Tenenbaum, who separates from the mother of his children, disappears from their lives for over two decades, then reemerges faking stomach cancer to worm his way back into their lives. Hackman creates a Royal who is an eccentric, self-centered jerk who is somehow likable enough to be ever-watchable. Try watching his misadventures with track-suited sons and not smile, I dare you.

3. Lex Luthor, Superman (Dir. Richard Donner, 1978)

In our era, you can practically spit in any direction and accidentally hit five superhero films, but that was decidedly untrue in 1978. Superhero properties had been adapted prior to that year, but Richard Donner’s Superman changed the game. It was a feature film that took Superman seriously, with a layered dramatic performance from Christopher Reeve, while giving him a decidedly comic but realistic villain in Gene Hackman’s obsessed Superman arch-villain Lex Luthor. Where Reeve’s Superman is earnest, Hackman’s Luthor is his opposite: funny, charming, and woefully narcissistic. Many comic book villains are written as sociopathically unhinged or holding personal grudges, but Luthor sets the stage for a highly believable origin for his evil actions: personal benefit (sinking the West Coast for profit).   

2. Sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett, Unforgiven (Dir. Clint Eastwood, 1992)

Unforgiven is one of Clint Eastwood’s finest directorial efforts, awarded Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing at the 65th Academy Awards. It also happened to net a fourth Oscar, providing Hackman an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as one of the most memorable villains in his career. When Big Whiskey, Wyoming prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald is slashed by no-good cowboy Quick Mike, Sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett (Hackman) orders the cowboy to give horses to Delilah’s employer in lieu of actual justice. The prostitutes hire the retiring outlaw William Mummy (Eastwood) to kill Mike and his cowboy companion, while the corrupt and brutal Daggett will do anything to prevent justice from being served. As Daggett, Hackman is intimidating and dangerous as the drunk-with-power Sheriff, infuriatingly dead-set on protecting villains, one of the best villains of the era.

1. Det. Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, The French Connection (Dir. William Friedkin, 1971)

Film history runs rich with intense performances, but Hackman was among the best performers to ever hit that sweet spot of believable, continuous, yet realistic intensity. William Friedkin’s classic 1971 neo-noir The French Connection starred Hackman as detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, an obsessive cop struggling to catch a French heroin kingpin. Based off a true story, the film won five Academy Awards (including for Hackman’s performance). As the gruff Doyle, Hackman is obsessive, intense, and electric, embroiled in an unyielding pursuit of a powerful foe. The role is full of memorable moments, including Hackman’s infamous car chase that was shot without permits (and was as dangerous in real life as it looked onscreen). It’s an incredible film, and Hackman’s arguably never been better.