Liza Minnelli Claims Gene Hackman Was ‘Downright Rude’ on ‘Lucky Lady’ Set

“I don’t like to whine, but [director] Stanley [Donen] later shared publicly that Gene was very dismissive of me during the film,” Minnelli wrote, per Entertainment Weekly.

In Lucky Lady, Minnelli, 79, played Claire, a singer who promises to help two businessmen — Kibby Womack (Hackman) and Ellison Walker (Burt Reynolds), who were also best friends — smuggle alcohol from Mexico to the U.S. during prohibition. Claire ultimately finds herself in a love triangle with the two men.

Minnelli added, “It’s hard to go to work when the chemistry is absent. I think it’s fair to say that Gene was downright rude.”

Tragically, Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home in February 2025. The iconic actor was 95 when he died.

Elsewhere in her memoir, Minnelli revealed the “passionate love” between her mother and singer Frank Sinatra. She wrote that her parents, Garland and Vincente Minnelli, frequently invited the crooner to parties. Additionally, Sinatra was one of the first people to hold Minnelli when she was born.

“During the time my parents were married, I eventually figured out that there was more between Frank and Mama than friendship. Much more,” Minnelli shared. She also described Garland and Sinatra as “very complicated, mercurial, intense human beings.”

Minnelli’s parents were married from 1945 to 1951. After that, Garland married Sid Luft, with whom she welcomed a daughter, Lorna Luft, and a son, Joey Luft. The Wizard of Oz star was married five times before her death in 1969 from an accidental overdose.

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