Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What was Gene Hackman's first film?
French Connection II is a 1975 crime drama film starring Gene Hackman and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictional sequel to the initially true story of the 1971 Academy Award winning picture "The French Connection". The film expands on the central character of Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle who travels to Marseille, France where he is attempting to track down French drug-dealer Alain Charnier, who escaped at the end of the first film. Hackman won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the original "The French Connection" and he and Fernando Rey are the only returning cast members.
Heyman decided he wanted to work in professional wrestling when he saw Vince McMahon interviewing Superstar Billy Graham. He began as a photographer when he was 13 and bought his own photo lab to take photos of pro wrestlers in New York. He published his own newsletter, "The Wrestling Times Magazine", and wrote for third-party wrestling publications such as "Pro Wrestling Illustrated". At the age of 14, he called Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the parent company of the World Wide Wrestling Federation, and obtained a backstage pass for Madison Square Garden, his first official work in pro wrestling. Heyman met Dusty Rhodes at a Jim Crockett Promotions taping, when he entered a production meeting. In 1985, Heyman was hired by New York Studio 54 as photographer. The same year, he became producer of Studio 54 and hosted the first Wrestle Party 85 show. He called Jim Crockett, who sent Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA. The show featured Bam Bam Bigelow's debut and an award to Flair.
Paul Heyman was born on September 11, 1965, in Westchester County, New York, the son of Sulamita ("née" Szarf; 1928–2009) and Richard S. Heyman (1926–2013), a prominent personal injury attorney and World War II veteran. He is of Jewish descent; his mother was a Holocaust survivor who suffered through experiences in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and the Łódź Ghetto. By age 11, he was running a mail order business selling celebrity and sports memorabilia from his home. While still a teenager, he fast-talked his way backstage at a World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) event at Madison Square Garden as a photojournalist. He was paid by the company for several of his photographs. He graduated from Edgemont High School. He attended SUNY Purchase and worked on-air as an opinionated, controversial host at SUNY's radio station and the WARY-FM New York radio station for Westchester Community College; in 1985, at the age of 19, he became a photographer, then a producer and promoter for the New York City nightclub Studio 54.
Created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey first appeared in the short "Plane Crazy", debuting publicly in the short film "Steamboat Willie" (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including "The Band Concert" (1935), "Brave Little Tailor" (1938), and "Fantasia" (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, "Lend a Paw", won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The first real horror movie made by the Indian film industry was Kamal Amrohi's "Mahal" in 1949. The film (which starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala in leading roles) proved a major box office hit, leading Madhubala and Lata Mangeshkar into stardom. Hemant Kumar's "Bees Saal Baad" (released in 1962) was another film which proved to be a box-office success. This film ignited the huge increase in popularity of horror-genre movies in the following years. "Gumnaam" (1965) and "Bhoot Bungla" (also 1965) were some of the other major horror movies which were seen in theaters at this time.
The first live-action film based on Spider-Man was the unauthorized short "Spider-Man" by Donald F. Glut in 1969. This was followed by "Spider-Man", an American made-for-television film that premiered on the CBS network in 1977. It starred Nicholas Hammond and was intended as a backdoor pilot for what became a weekly episodic TV series.
Science fiction films appeared very early in the silent film era. The initial attempts were short films of typically 1 to 2 minutes in duration, shot in black and white, but sometimes with colour tinting. These usually had a technological theme, and were often intended to be humorous. "Le Voyage dans la Lune", created by Georges Méliès in 1902 is often considered to be the first science fiction film. It drew upon Jules Verne and H. G. Wells in its depiction of a spacecraft being launched to the moon in a large cannon. Its ground-breaking special effects pioneered the way for future science-fiction films, and it became largely popular after its release.
The beginning of the sound era itself is ambiguously defined. To some, it began with "The Jazz Singer", which was released in 1927 and increased box-office profits for films, as sound was introduced to feature films. To others, the era began in 1929, when the silent age had definitively ended. Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre—Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture)—and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films; Alfred Newman worked at Twentieth Century Fox for twenty years; Cecil B. DeMille's films were almost all made at Paramount Pictures; and director Henry King's films were mostly made for Twentieth Century Fox. Similarly, actors were mostly contract players. Film historians and critics note that it took about a decade for films to adapt to sound and return to the level of artistic quality of the silents, which it did in the late 1930s.
Mary Badham had no film acting experience before being cast in "To Kill a Mockingbird". The Oscar in her category went to another child actress, Patty Duke for "The Miracle Worker". During filming, Badham became particularly close to actor Gregory Peck, who played Scout's father, Atticus Finch; she kept in touch with him, always calling him 'Atticus', until his death in 2003.
Richard St. John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, appearing as Frank Machin in "This Sporting Life", for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, King Arthur in the 1967 film "Camelot" and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show. He played an aristocrat captured by Native Americans in "A Man Called Horse" (1970), a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood's Western film "Unforgiven" (1992), Emperor Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator" (2000), and Albus Dumbledore in the first two "Harry Potter" films: "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001) and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002), the latter of which was his final film role. Harris had a number-one hit in Australia and Canada and a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland and United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park".
Heyman was born in London. He is the son of John Heyman, producer of the films "The Go-Between" and "Jesus", and Norma Heyman ("née" Parnell), an actress, and Academy Award-nominated producer of the films "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Mrs Henderson Presents". His paternal grandparents were German Jews who left Nazi Germany and emigrated to England prior to World War II, while his mother's family was English. He went to Westminster School and, following graduation, he decided to study abroad. He earned a degree in Art History from Harvard University in 1983.
Bones' first television appearance was in the BBC Jubilee Play "A Day in the Life" by Ray Connolly, in 1977. In 1980 he appeared in an episode of "Fox" as Kemble. Bones played Sergeant Parkes in an episode of "Spearhead" (1981), played a small role in Series 3 of the long running TV series, The Bill (1987), Paul Roussillon in "Bergerac" (1988), and a Superintendent in "London's Burning" (1988). Also in 1988 Bones played Victorian medium Robert James Lees in ITV's "Jack the Ripper" starring Michael Caine. His first feature film was "Bellman and True" (1987) directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Bernard Hill. The "New York Times" film critic said "Mr Bones makes a memorable screen debut as the bullying Gort." In 1995 Bones played Toussant in the film "Cutthroat Island", and in 1998 made appearances in "Dangerfield" and "Cold Feet". He played Admiral Bill Wilson in the 1999 film "Wing Commander", and in 2001 he played Banquo in a made-for-television film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Macbeth" which starred Antony Sher as Macbeth. The film was the televised version of a stage show which had an enormously successful run in Britain, Japan and the United States.
The company's first series of pocket watches, the Broadway Limited, was marketed as the "Watch of Railroad Accuracy," and Hamilton became popular by making accurate railroad watches. Hamilton introduced its first wristwatch in 1917, designed to appeal to men entering World War I and containing the 0-sized 17-jewel 983 movement originally designed for women's pendent watches. In 1928 Hamilton purchased the Illinois Watch Company for in excess of $5 million from the heirs of John Whitfield Bunn and Jacob Bunn. Some of the most collectible early Hamilton wristwatches include The Oval, The Tonneau, The Rectangular, The Square Enamel, The Coronado, The Piping Rock, The Spur, The Glendale, The Pinehurst, The Langley, The Byrd, The Cambridge, the Barrel "B", and The Flintridge. Many models came in both solid gold and gold-filled cases and, though rare, some wristwatches such as the Grant were made of silver.
Heyman was born in 1930 in New York City. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, and in 1951 from Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth he joined the Theta Chi men's fraternity. After serving as a U.S. Marine Corps officer during the Korean War, he entered Yale Law School, where he became editor of the "Yale Law Journal". Following his graduation in 1956, he served as a law clerk for Judge Charles Edward Clark of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then from 1958 to 1959 he was a clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren.
The first depictions of the supernatural on screen appear in several of the short silent films created by the French pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès in the late 1890s. The best known of these supernatural-based works is the 3-minute short film "Le Manoir du Diable" (1896), also known in English as "The Haunted Castle" or "The House of the Devil". The film is sometimes credited as being the first ever horror film. In "The Haunted Castle", a mischievous devil appears inside a medieval castle and harasses the visitors. Méliès' other popular horror film is "La Caverne maudite" (1898), which translates literally to "the accursed cave". The film, also known for its English title "The Cave of the Demons", tells the story of a woman stumbling over a cave that is populated by the spirits and skeletons of people who died there. Méliès would also make other short films that historians consider now as horror-comedies. "Une nuit terrible" (1896), which translates to "A Terrible Night", tells a story of a man who tries to get a good night's sleep but ends up wrestling a giant spider. His other film, "L'auberge ensorcelée" (1897), or "The Bewitched Inn", features a story of a hotel guest getting pranked and tormented by an unseen presence. 
In 1897, the accomplished American photographer-turned director George Albert Smith created "The X-Ray Fiend" (1897), a horror-comedy that came out a mere two years after x-rays were invented. The film shows a couple of skeletons courting each other. An audience full of people unaccustomed to the idea would have found it frightening and otherworldly. The next year, Smith created the short film "Photographing a Ghost" (1898), consisdered a precursor to the paranormal investigation subgenre. The film portrays three men attempting to photograph a ghost, only to fail time and again as the ghost eludes them and throws chairs.
Japan also made early forays into the horror genre. In 1898, Japanese film company Konishi Honten released two horror films both written by Ejiro Hatta; "Shinin No Sosei" (Resurrection of a Corpse), and "Bake Jizo" (Jizo the Spook) "Shinin No Sosei" told the story of a dead man who comes back to life after having fallen from a coffin that two men were carrying. (the writer Hatta played the dead man, while the coffin-bearers were played by Konishi employees.) Though there are no records of the cast, crew, or plot of "Bake Jizo", it was likely based on the Japanese legend of Jizo statues, believed to provide safety and protection to children. The presence of the word bake—which can be translated to "spook," "ghost," or "phantom"—may imply a haunted or possessed statue. (In Japan, Jizō, or respectfully as "Ojizō-sama", is a beloved divinity who is seen as the guardian of children, and in particular, children who died before their parents. He has been worshipped as the guardian of the souls of "mizuko", the souls of stillborn, miscarried, or aborted fetuses.)
Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón is regarded as the most significant Spanish silent film director in an international context. He was popular for his frequent camera tricks and optical illusions, an innovation that contributed heavily to the popularity of trick films in the period. His famous works include "Satán se divierte" (1907), which translates to "Satan Having Fun", or "Satan at Play"; "La casa hechizada" (1908), or "The House of Ghosts", considered to be one of the earliest cinematic depictions of a haunted house premise; and "Le spectre rouge" (1907) or "The Red Spectre", a collaboration film with French director Ferdinand Zecca about a demonic magician who attempts to perform his act in a mysterious grotto.
In January 1951, WKY-TV became the first station in the U.S. to provide coverage of state legislature sessions, which were conducted from the Oklahoma State Capitol twice a week. Channel 4 claimed to have made the fastest showing of any sound on film ever to have been processed and aired on television at the time, when on February 8, 1952, WKY-TV aired anchor John Field's introductory remarks that were filmed 15 minutes prior to that evening's newscast. The Houston film processor used by the station allowed WKY-TV to broadcast news coverage only a few hours after it was shot on-scene. The station is also purported to be the first in the U.S. to allowed access to film a court proceeding on December 13, 1953, while covering the trial of accused murderer Billy Eugene Manley. A WKY-TV film crew (led by reporter Frank McGee) was placed in a specially constructed, enclosed booth in the rear of the trial's courtroom at the Oklahoma County Courthouse, with a microphone hidden near the front of the court recording the proceedings. A small button was placed on the desk of Judge A. P. Van Meter to allow him to automatically discontinue operation of the cameras at any time. The swearing in of the jury, some testimony and Manley's sentencing was filmed for later news broadcasts.
Tarkovsky's first feature film was "Ivan's Childhood" in 1962. He had inherited the film from director Eduard Abalov, who had to abort the project. The film earned Tarkovsky international acclaim and won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in the year 1962. In the same year, on 30 September, his first son Arseny (called Senka in Tarkovsky's diaries) Tarkovsky was born.
The arrival of sound at the very end of the 1920s, produced a final artistic flourish of German film before the collapse of the Weimar Republic in 1933. As early as 1918, three inventors came up with the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system and tried to introduce it to the industry between 1922 and 1926. UFA showed an interest, but possibly due to financial difficulties, never made a sound film. But in the late 1920s, sound production and distribution were starting to be adopted by the German film industry and by 1932 Germany had 3,800 cinemas equipped to play sound films. The first filmmakers who experimented with the new technology often shot the film in several versions, using several soundtracks in different languages. The film "The Blue angel" (1930), directed by the Austrian Josef von Sternberg and produced by Erich Pommer, was also shot in two versions - German and English, with a different supporting cast in each version. It is considered to be Germany's first "talkie" and will always be remembered as the film that made an international superstar of its lead actress Marlene Dietrich. Other notable early sound films, all from 1931, include Jutzi's adaptation to Alfred Döblin's novel "Berlin Alexanderplatz", Pabst's Bertolt Brecht adaptation "The Threepenny Opera" and Lang's "M," as well as Hochbaum's "Raid in St. Pauli" (1932). Brecht was also one of the creators of the explicitly communist film "Kuhle Wampe" (1932), which was banned soon after its release.
The script for "Scream" (1996), then known as "Scary Movie" was released for sale on a Friday and by 8 a.m. the following Monday had become involved in a significant bidding war from several studios, including Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek, with producer Cathy Konrad bringing it to the attention of Bob Weinstein. The bidding eventually rose to an amount that the choice ultimately came down to Oliver Stone, who was at the time working with Cinergi Pictures, and Weinstein under Miramax. Williamson agreed to terms with Miramax for $400,000 plus a contract for two sequels and a third, unrelated film, believing their label, Dimension Films, would produce "Scream" immediately and without significant restriction. Wes Craven was approached early on to helm the film but he was occupied with remaking "The Haunting" and so other directors including Robert Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, George Romero and Sam Raimi were approached. Concerns were raised by Williamson and Weinstein when many of the approached directors, having read the script, believed the film to be a comedy, making them reluctant to hire those particular directors, believing they "didn't get it". Craven was approached and passed on the film several times, wanting to move away from the genre, but was enticed once Drew Barrymore became involved, reasoning that it may be different from his previous works if an actress of her recognition was involved. Ultimately the production of "The Haunting", at that time, fell through and Craven was able to take over directing duties on the film. Close to the end of the film's production, the Weinstein brothers had the film's title changed from "Scary Movie" to "Scream" inspired by the Michael Jackson song of the same name as Bob Weinstein felt "Scary Movie" was not suitable when the film also contained elements of satire and comedy. The change was immediately disliked by both Williamson and Craven who considered it "stupid" but would later remark that it was a positive change.
Works of literature have been adapted for film from the dawn of the industry. Some of the earliest examples come from the work of Georges Méliès, who pioneered many film techniques. In 1899, he released two adaptations — "Cinderella" based on the Brothers Grimm story of the same name and "King John", the first known film to be based on the works of Shakespeare. The 1900 film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled", directed by Arthur Marvin featured Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes intruding upon a pseudo-supernatural burglary. The film, considered the first detective movie, ran for only 30 seconds and was originally intended to be shown in hand-cranked Mutoscope machines.
Naked Angels is a 1969 outlaw biker film, directed by Bruce D. Clark. Starring Michael Greene as Mother, Jennifer Gan as Marlene and Richard Rust as Fingers. Later documentary director Penelope Spheeris is a cast member in her first appearance as an actress. Actor Corey Fischer also appears in the cast.
He followed this with leading roles in the disaster film "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974), which was nominated for several Oscars. That same year, Hackman appeared in what became one of his most famous comedic roles as The Blindman in "Young Frankenstein".
In 1956 he began pursuing an acting career; he joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, they were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed.". Furthermore, Hackman got the all time lowest score at the Pasadena Playhouse at the time. Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman moved to New York City. A 2004 article in "Vanity Fair" described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling California born actors and close friends, sharing apartments in various two-person combinations while living in New York City in the 1960s. To support himself between acting jobs, he was working as a uniformed doorman at a Howard Johnson restaurant in New York when, as bad luck would have it, he ran into a despised Pasadena Playhouse instructor who once told him he was not good enough to be an actor. Reinforcing "The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man said to him, "See, Hackman, I told you you wouldn't amount to anything." From then on, Hackman was determined to become the finest actor he possibly could. The three former roommates have since earned 19 Academy Award nominations for acting, with five wins.
Hackman got various bit roles, for example on the TV series "Route 66" in 1963, and began performing in several Off-Broadway plays. In 1964 he had an offer to co-star in the play "Any Wednesday" with actress Sandy Dennis. This opened the door to film work. His first role was in "Lilith", with Warren Beatty in the leading role. In 1967 he appeared in an episode of the television series "The Invaders" entitled "The Spores". Another supporting role, Buck Barrow in 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde", earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 1968 he appeared in an episode of "I Spy", in the role of "Hunter", in the episode "Happy Birthday... Everybody". In 1968 he starred in the "CBS Playhouse" episode "My Father and My Mother" and the dystopian television film "Shadow on the Land". In 1969 he played a ski coach in "Downhill Racer" and an astronaut in "Marooned". Also that year, he played a member of a barnstorming skydiving team that entertained mostly at county fairs, a movie which also inspired many to pursue skydiving and has a cult-like status amongst skydivers as a result: "The Gypsy Moths". He nearly accepted the role of Mike Brady for the TV series, "The Brady Bunch", but was advised by his agent to decline in exchange for a more promising role, which he did.
Hackman starred in the David Mamet crime film "Heist", as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into one final job and the comedy "Heartbreakers" alongside Sigourney Weaver, Ray Liotta and Jennifer Love Hewitt. He had a small part as Arnold Margolese in Gore Verbinski's "The Mexican". He also had a leading role as the head of an eccentric family in the ensemble cast film "The Royal Tenenbaums" and in yet another Grisham legal drama, "Runaway Jury", at long last getting to make a picture with his longtime friend Dustin Hoffman. Hackman's final film to date was "Welcome to Mooseport" (2004), a comedy with Ray Romano, when he portrayed a former President of the United States.