Kansala, Guinea-Bissau — For centuries, the history of the West African kingdom of Kaabu has been told mainly by word of mouth.
Kaabu existed from the mid-1500s to the 1800s. At its peak, it encompassed Guinea-Bissau and reached into what are now Senegal and Gambia.
Sometimes Kaabu’s story passed from father to son. Often it was passed by griots — or West African oral historians — who sang about the kingdom’s rulers.
“The griots have already sung it, but now we know it’s real,” is what Nino Galissa recounts in a recent song commissioned by archaeologists from their recent dig in Kansala — a site that was once the wealthy capital of the West African kingdom.
Galissa is a direct descendent of the griots who sang for the last emperor of Kaabu.
The song performed by Galissa is being shared along with a report of the archaeological findings, Sirio Canos-Donnay from the Spanish National Research Council, which was a lead institution of the dig, told VOA.
“He’s combined all of the ways and methods and phrases that are the trade of the griot with the archaeological information and, hence, using that we’ll be able to transmit what we’ve done to the local population in a much more effective manner.”
In Kansala, griots have long been the way history lessons were passed between generations. They often sing the history accompanied by the kora, a string instrument that resembles both a harp and a guitar.
‘The puzzle you cannot miss’
Antonio Queba Banjai, a descendant of the last emperors of Kaabu, remembers listening as a young boy to the griots sing about his ancestors.
“Griots are not just important,” he said. “They are the puzzle you cannot miss in African history, because to know what we know now is because of griots. I am from the tree of the last emperor of Kaabu. We were educated by the music of kora. The storytellers tell us where we come from.”
Banjai is also president of Guinea-Lanta, an NGO that worked with the archaeologists.
When team members began the project, they knew they wanted griots and oral history to play an important role in what is the biggest archaeological dig to ever take place in Guinea-Bissau.
Canos-Donnay said she hoped that including oral storytelling in this report would show the academic world that things can be done differently and more inclusively.
“We should pay and need to pay respect to local ways of producing and consuming history. And the collaboration and the knowledge that can come from that dialogue from these two disciplines is something that is quite extraordinary.”
Canos-Donnay and others worked closely to verify that many events griots had sung about for generations actually occurred.
One such event was the explosive ending of the kingdom.
“Kansala had a fairly spectacular end in the 1860s, when the town was sieged by an enemy kingdom, and the local king realized he was going to lose the battle,” she said. “The legend is he set fire to the gunpowder house and blew the whole site up. So, this particular point of the site is where the elders said it happened. And one of the fun things is we proved that’s where it properly did.”
The dig also produced evidence of residents’ extensive trading with Europeans – Venetian beads, Dutch gin and more.
Joao Paulo Pinto is the former director of Guinea-Bissau’s National Institute of Study and Research. He says West African ways of recording history should be taken as seriously as European techniques.
“In our system, when you talk about the ritual of passage – everything has a process, everything has a code of conduct,” he said. “All our oral history systems have a commitment to the truth. I have a commitment to the truth as I speak, just the same as a book has a commitment to the truth.”
As for Banjai, he hopes the project will allow others to learn about the histories and kingdoms of West Africa that he says are too often neglected in school.
…

The state of Texas has the third-largest Asian American population in the U.S. Chinese Americans in the Lone Star State have roots that trace back for generations, just like those of their counterparts on the nation’s East and West coasts. While the history of these Texans might not be as well known, their stories are just as intertwined with America’s. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on this story.
…

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis marks 12 years as head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, seemingly out of danger after a month in hospital but with his health casting a shadow over his future.
The 88-year-old was, for a time, critically ill as he battled pneumonia in both lungs at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on Feb. 14.
The Argentine’s situation has markedly improved since then, with the Vatican confirming his condition as stable on Wednesday evening, and talk is now turning to when he might go home.
But his hospitalization, the longest and most fraught of his papacy, has raised serious doubts about his ability to lead the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.
Slowing down
Francis had before now refused to make any concessions to his age or increasingly fragile health, which saw him begin using a wheelchair three years ago.
He maintained a packed daily schedule interspersed with frequent overseas trips, notably a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region in September, when he presided over huge open-air masses.
But experts say his recovery could take weeks given his age and recurring health issues, not helped by having part of one lung removed as a young man.
“The rest of his pontificate remains a question mark for the moment, including for Francis himself,” said Father Michel Kubler, a Vatican expert and former editor in chief of the French religious newspaper La Croix.
“He doesn’t know what his life will be like once he returns to the Vatican and so, no doubt, reserves the option of resigning if he can no longer cope,” he told AFP.
Francis has always left the door open to resigning were his health to deteriorate, following the example of Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step down.
But the Jesuit has distanced himself from the idea more recently, insisting the job is for life.
While in hospital, Francis has delegated masses to senior cardinals but has kept working on and off, including signing decrees and receiving close colleagues.
But he has missed a month of events for the 2025 Jubilee, a holy year organized by the pope that is predicted to draw an additional 30 million pilgrims to Rome and the Vatican.
And it is hard to imagine he will be well enough to lead a full program of events for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar that is less than six weeks away.
Many believe that Francis, who has not been seen in public since he was hospitalized, has to change course.
“This is the end of the pontificate as we have known it, until now,” Kubler said.
Unfinished reforms
Francis struck a sharp contrast to his cerebral predecessor when he took office, eschewing the trappings of office and reaching out to the most disadvantaged in society with a message that the Church was for everyone.
A former archbishop of Buenos Aires more at home with his flock than the cardinals of the Roman Curia, Francis introduced sweeping reforms across the Vatican and beyond.
Some of the changes, from reorganizing the Vatican’s finances to increasing the role of women and opening the Church to divorced and LGBTQ members, have been laid down in official texts.
But a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the Church, known as a Synod, is not yet finished.
And there are many who would happily see his work undone.
Traditionalists have strongly resisted his approach, and an outcry in Africa caused the Vatican to clarify its authorization of non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples in 2023.
“Whether we like him or not, he has shifted the dial, but many things are still pending,” a Vatican source said.
…

ROME — Pope Francis’ recovery from double pneumonia continued Wednesday as a chest X-ray confirmed improvement, two days after doctors declared he is no longer in imminent danger of death.
The latest medical bulletin said the pope’s condition remained stable but indicated a complex picture considering his overall fragility.
The Vatican said Francis, 88, again followed its spiritual retreat remotely and resumed physical and respiratory therapy after a quiet night. He continues to receive high flows of oxygen through nasal tubes during the day and a noninvasive mechanical mask to aid his rest at night.
His weekly Wednesday general audience was canceled since the Vatican hierarchy is on retreat this week as part of the Lenten spiritual exercises that have been a mainstay of the Jesuit pope’s pontificate.
Francis faces important milestones this week.
On Thursday, he marks the 12th anniversary of his election as the 266th pope. The Holy See has not said how the anniversary, a public holiday in the Vatican, might be commemorated. No medical bulletin will be issued.
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected on the fifth ballot of the 2013 conclave that was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned.
While Francis has praised Benedict’s humility in stepping down and said he might follow in his footsteps, more recently he has said the papacy is a job for life.
Another milestone comes Friday, when Francis marks four weeks of hospitalization.
St. John Paul II holds the record for a hospital stay, at 55 days, when in 1981 he underwent a minor surgical operation and then was treated for a cytomegalovirus infection.
Francis is on track to equal the second-longest stay, 28 days, which John Paul recorded in 1994, when he had surgery to repair his right hip joint after he fractured his right femur in a fall, according to Gemelli hospital.
The Vatican has released no photos or video of Francis since he was admitted. The pope recorded an audio message last week to thank people for their prayers, though the weakness and breathlessness of his voice made clear how frail he was.
…

The American South has long been associated with white-columned mansions, rustic farmhouses, and aging structures steeped in history. But an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington is showcasing the vibrant, modern and forward-thinking architecture emerging from the region today. Maxim Adams has the story. Video editor: Sergii Dogotar, Anna Rice
…

NEW YORK — A public memorial service bursting with choral music and the Berklee College of Music’s Nebulous String Quartet, with Stevie Wonder and the Rev. Al Sharpton also on the bill, celebrated the life and legacy of Grammy-winning singer and pianist Roberta Flack. 

Flack’s songs “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly with His Song” made her a global star in the 1970s and beyond. She died last month at age 88. 

Wonder was among the artists scheduled to perform during the service at a historic Harlem church, while Sharpton was to deliver the eulogy, according to the memorial program. 

Flack was an influential performer with an intimate vocal and musical style that ranged easily between soul, jazz and gospel. 

Her “Celebration of Life” memorial was livestreamed at www.RobertaFlack.com and on YouTube. 

Here are some highlights: 

For the memory of a singing legend, an historic location 

Flack’s memorial was open to the public at The Abyssinian Baptist Church. Founded in 1808, it is one of the oldest Black Baptist churches in the U.S. 

The church was decorated for the ceremony with stunning white and yellow bouquets and filled quickly beforehand. At the center, a screen showed a young Flack at the piano and played highlights of her career. 

It was a fitting location: Flack grew up with church gospel and her mother played organ at the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia. As a teen, she began accompanying the church choir on piano. 

The program featured a powerful quote from Flack. 

“Remember: Always walk in the light,” it read. “If you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the Light.” 

A celebration of a life in music … with music 

“Many of us are here today because she has touched not just our hearts, but she also touched our souls,” said the Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Johnson, the senior church pastor who led the service. 

Choir performances including a rousing rendition of “Amazing Grace” came in between a video recollection of Flack’s life and scripture readings. 

“That’s what we call church, y’all,” Johnson said at the close of one choral performance. 

Organ and piano riffs played off and on in the background. 

“She just sang the song. She let you hear the lyrics. She let you understand the beauty. But I also want you to understand that this woman was also a pure genius,” Santita Jackson, daughter of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and a friend of Flack, told the near-capacity crowd. 

Actor Phylicia Rashad remembered first seeing Flack perform when she was a student at Howard University — to an audience that grew rapt by her quiet, steady voice. 

Flack lived comfortably with her genius and without having to proclaim it to people, Rashad said. 

“She wore that like a loose fitting garment and lived her life attending to that which she cared for most: music, love and humanity,” Rashad said. 

What are some of Flack’s best-known songs? 

Flack leaves behind a rich repertoire of music that avoids categorization. Her debut, “First Take,” wove soul, jazz, flamenco, gospel and folk into one revelatory package, prescient in its form and measured in its approach. 

She will likely be remembered for her classics. Those include “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” her dreamy cover of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” written by English folk artist Ewan MacColl for his wife Peggy Seeger. It marked the beginning of Flack’s mainstream success when it was used in a love scene between Clint Eastwood and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” 

But most will think of “Killing Me Softly with His Song” when Flack’s name comes up in conversation. She first heard Lori Lieberman’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song” while on a plane and immediately fell in love with it. While on tour with Quincy Jones, she covered the song, and the audience fell in love with it, too, as they’d continue to for decades.
…

Artificial intelligence companies train their AI models using the works of writers, artists and creatives who typically aren’t credited or compensated. Instead of fighting AI, some tech companies are encouraging creators to take advantage of it. Tina Trinh reports.
…

The documentary film Porcelain War highlights the struggle of Ukrainian artists and ordinary citizens fighting to save their country and culture in the face of Russian aggression. The movie won the 2024 Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize for documentaries and was nominated for an Oscar this year. Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Elena Matusovsky.
…

KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Two Pakistani women sit together on a couch, rehearsing their lines while a director scrutinizes them.

Waiting off camera for his scene is the male lead, an actor blessed with Bachelor hair and fine bone structure. Also out of sight: the Islamabad homeowners, who are holed up in a separate room and whose furniture and knickknacks will be seen by millions of viewers — many from the society that has been their country’s neighbor and uneasy sparring partner for much of the past century.

This is the set of the Pakistani drama Adhi Bewafai, or Half Infidelity — one of what some in other nations would call “soap operas.”

But these dramas, it turns out, are not just for Pakistanis. Realistic settings, natural dialogue and almost workaday plots about families and marriages make Pakistani dramas a hit with viewers at home and abroad — especially in the neighboring country that split with Pakistan in 1947 and is its nuclear archrival today: India.

Television, it seems, is succeeding where diplomacy sometimes can’t.

A glimpse into life across the border

Several thousand people work in Pakistan’s drama industry; the country produces between 80 to 120 shows a year, each one a source of escapism and intrigue. They offer Indians a tantalizing glimpse into life across the border — and manage to break through decades of enmity between the two governments.

Maheen Shafeeq, a research associate at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, says there is effectively no relationship between the two governments. Each government is fixed on a single issue it cannot move past — for India, it’s terrorism; for Pakistan, the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The governments are very much opposed to each other,” she says. “They don’t agree what they should talk about.”

Although it’s difficult for Indians to visit Pakistan, where these shows are filmed, they faithfully follow the plot twists and turns through platforms like YouTube, ZEE5, and MX Player.

For those of a certain generation, however, it wasn’t always so easy to keep up.

Kaveri Sharma, a writer in the Indian city of Patna, recalls her mother-in-law and aunt jiggling antennas in the 1980s and 1990s in hopes of catching a signal from Pakistan’s state broadcaster, PTV. It’s how Sharma first realized that the country next door was a drama powerhouse. It inspired her to discover the shows for herself years later, even going on to watch them with her own daughter.

“They feel familiar, but they are also a break from our own lives,” Sharma says. “I don’t see any differences between the two countries. Everything is relatable. I see Karachi and think that it could be Lucknow or Patna. What happens on the shows could happen to me or my friends.”

She had heard only negative things about Pakistan since childhood — that it was the enemy that would take everything from India. The TV dramas have added subtlety and detail to this image for her. She would love to visit, but is unlikely to get the opportunity. So she explores Pakistan through the locations, malls, offices, streets and restaurants depicted on the small screen.

The names of popular Karachi neighborhoods roll off her tongue. Sharma, like Bibi Hafeez in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and Punita Kumar in the central Indian city of Raipur, raves about the dramas’ universality of themes, the strong characterization and the emotional range.

“Pakistani characters are not only heroes or villains. They have shades to them, and that is very human,” says Kumar, who chanced upon a Pakistani drama through a chunky videocassette when she was a teenager living in the northern Indian city of Aligarh. It was love at first watch.

“They captivated me. We got a cable connection that offered PTV. Then YouTube came and I realized I could search for whatever drama I wanted. I haven’t taken a stop,” she said. “We get exposure to Pakistani life in the scenes, but the struggles the characters have with their relatives are ones I would have with my own.”

Pakistani TV veteran Khaled Anam is delighted by Indians’ enthusiasm for the country’s serials and the barriers they help erode.

“What Bollywood is to India, dramas are to Pakistan,” says Anam, who is based in Karachi and has worked as an actor since the 1980s. He has appeared in many dramas, including the ratings smash Humsafar (Life Partner).

India’s productions go big, while Pakistan’s are more low key

India dominates the movie market in South Asia and beyond, with big stars and bigger budgets. Pakistanis have been exposed to Bollywood films for decades, although the prevailing hostile political climate means they can’t watch them in movie theaters. The bans are mutual, though. India, like Pakistan, restricts content from across the border in movie theaters and TV channels.

And while India is no slouch when it comes to TV production, it doesn’t offer viewers what Pakistan does, according to Anam: simplicity, depth of writing and a limited number of episodes.

“There are 15-minute flashbacks in Indian serials. (The characters) are decked out and dolled up. It’s a fantasy world. The shows go on forever. Everything is ‘DUN dun dun!'” says Anam, mimicking a dramatic musical riff and shaking his hands.

The actors on the couch in Islamabad are rehearsing lines about a woman who is disrespectful and so, according to one of them, is an unsuitable marriage prospect. The delivery and grammar could be heard in virtually any South Asian household.

“Pakistanis are generally emotional people, and that is in their dramas also,” says Islamabad-based director Saife Hassan. “It would take me less than two minutes to explain the plot of the super-duper hit Kabhi Main, Kabhi Tum (Sometimes Me, Sometimes You). It’s about the emotions between a husband and wife.”

Hassan, who began his TV career in the 1990s, says Indians frequently comment on his social media pages and send him direct messages about his work. He even recalls Indian viewers praying for the recovery of a character who was in a coma.

Hassan would love to see more homegrown dramas make it onto platforms like Netflix, as some Indian shows have with great success. But he wonders whether international audiences would understand and connect with Pakistani stories or lives: “The way we think is different from the West. Our shows are not driven by events. They are driven by emotions.”

There is also a lack of raunch in Pakistani dramas, which are family-friendly with little to no vulgarity, violence, or even action. Indians, therefore, are a natural audience for Pakistani dramas, Hassan says. “They are our people. They are like us. They eat like us,” he says. “I love India, and I love Indians. They have grown out of this animosity.” 
…

ROME — Pope Francis continued his recovery from double pneumonia Sunday after doctors reported some positive news: After more than three weeks in the hospital, the 88-year-old pope is responding well to treatment and has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” in recent days.

In the early Sunday update, the Vatican said Francis was resting after a quiet night. For the fourth Sunday in a row, the pope will not appear for his weekly noon blessing, though the Vatican planned to distribute the text he would have delivered if he were well enough.

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has remained stable, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors reported in a Vatican statement Saturday.

The doctors said that such stability “as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy.” It was the first time the doctors had reported that Francis was responding positively to the treatment for the complex lung infection that was diagnosed after he was hospitalized on Feb. 14.

But they kept his prognosis as “guarded,” meaning he’s not out of danger.

In his absence, the Vatican’s day-to-day operations continued alongside celebrations of its Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century Jubilee that brings millions of pilgrims to Rome. On Sunday, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is close to Francis, celebrates the Holy Year Mass for volunteers that Francis was supposed to have celebrated.

Francis has been using high flows of supplemental oxygen to help him breathe during the day and a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night.

Francis was hospitalized Feb. 14 for what was then just a bad case of bronchitis. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has sidelined Francis for the longest period of his 12-year papacy and raised questions about the future. 
…

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was appointing Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In February, weeks after taking office, Trump fired the center’s president, replaced the board of trustees and named himself chairman of the organization.

The moves represented a takeover by Trump of a cultural institution that is known for its signature Kennedy Center Honors performances and is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.

“This completes our selection,” Trump said on social media after announcing the appointments of Ingraham and Bartiromo. Trump said last month special U.S. envoy Richard Grenell will serve as the interim executive director of the center.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump, a Republican, has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

During his first term in office, Trump declined to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors, considered the top award for achievement in the arts. In December, at the last show attended by former President Joe Biden, the center’s leaders made clear Trump was welcome to come in the future.

Earlier this week, the hit musical Hamilton canceled its run at the center after Trump’s takeover. 
…

SRINAGAR, INDIA — Viral social media posts threw cat lovers in Indian-controlled Kashmir into a tizzy.

Panic spread and local veterinarians saw a surge in pet owners coming in with their cats — all because of posts that went viral on social media. It began with a warning in January from veterinarians in the disputed Himalayan region, where the cat population has soared over the past years, partly because of stray cats roaming free and pet stores bringing in ever more costly breeds to keep up with local demand.

The vets said there’s been an uptick in infections among the feline population due to lack of vaccination and mishandling of strays.

What was meant to be a cautionary note was misinterpreted. Video clips and news reports started claiming that cats transmit potentially deadly infections to humans, and that cat-borne diseases can cause miscarriages among women.

Days later, the region’s animal husbandry department issued a statement saying there’s no harm in keeping cats as pets as long as proper hygiene is maintained. But the statement did little to calm pet owners in Kashmir, where cats have been long revered in Islamic folklore for their cleanliness and considered noble and intelligent creatures.

Mir Mubashir, a local businessman who lives on the outskirts of Srinagar, the region’s main city, said the posts and reports made him worried. His heart heavy, he took Liger, his Persian kitty, to her vet to make sure she was fine.

“I felt really scared,” he said. Only after the vet’s assurances that all was well did he calm down.

Reflecting the level of concern, Altaf Gilani, the head of the main Srinagar animal hospital, said they had examined 2,594 cats in the first seven weeks of this year, compared to a total of 1,010 cats in January and February last year. If regular deworming, vaccinations and hygiene protocols are followed, pet owners are not at risk, he said.

Keeping cats, much like raising pigeons in Kashmir, is seen as a stress buster and mood elevator in a region long plagued by conflicts. Split between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety, Kashmir has recently seen two harsh lockdowns, first in 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region’s semi-autonomy, and again in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic.

More and more people began adopting stray cats during the lockdowns. Children were encouraged to play with them — experts called it pet therapy.

“Cats entice you to love them and you get attached once you spend time with them,” said Mujtaba Hussain, another cat owner.  
…

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO — Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s and died of heart disease and other factors likely days after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of a rare virus spread by mice, according to autopsy results released Friday in New Mexico.

Hackman, 95, Arakawa, 64, and one of their dogs were found dead Feb. 26 in separate rooms of the couple’s Santa Fe home.

Hackman’s heart disease and the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome that caused Arakawa’s death were announced at a press conference at the Santa Fe sheriff’s office.

Hackman’s wife died a week before he did, results showed. A reporter asked Sheriff Adan Mendoza if Hackman’s advanced Alzheimer’s had hindered him from perceiving her death.

“I would assume that is the case,” Mendoza told reporters.

“He was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s, and it is quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, told reporters.

Arakawa is believed to have died around Feb. 11, authorities said Friday, citing the date of her last email.

Jarrell determined Hackman died on Feb. 18, based on his pacemaker activity.

Hantavirus is a rare disease in the U.S., with most cases concentrated in the western states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. In northern New Mexico, the virus is predominantly spread through the droppings and urine of deer mice.

The virus is often transmitted through the air when people sweep out sheds or clean closets where mice have been living. It begins with flu-like symptoms and can lead to heart and lung failure, with around 38% to 50% of cases resulting in death.

New Mexico has experienced between one and seven cases annually in recent years, according to health data.

State health inspectors found no particular sign of rodents inside Hackman’s home but did detect rodent activity in structures outside the house, State Veterinarian Erin Phipps told reporters.

Hackman and Arakawa, a pianist, had called Santa Fe home since the 1980s and were active in the city’s art community and culinary scene. In recent years, the couple were seen less often in town as Hackman’s health deteriorated. They lived a very private life before their deaths, Mendoza said.

A caretaker at their gated community discovered the couple dead. Sheriff’s deputies found Hackman in the kitchen. Arakawa and a dog were found in a bathroom.

Both Hackman and Arakawa appeared to have suddenly fallen to the floor, and neither showed signs of blunt force trauma.

Arakawa had picked up one of her dogs in a crate on Feb. 9 from a Santa Fe veterinarian, which may explain why the animal was found dead in the crate in the couple’s home on Feb. 26, Mendoza said. Phipps said the dog may have died of starvation.

Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” He won an Oscar for best actor in 1972 for his portrayal of detective Popeye Doyle in “The French Connection,” and in 1993 won an Oscar for best supporting actor for “Unforgiven.”
…