Ninety five years old or not, the news of Gene Hackman’s death still hits as a shock.

As to what happened and why, let’s not speculate on that and let the police/coroner findings tell that story of him, his wife and dog dying in their house.

An Oscar winner and one of the greatest screen actors of his generation, he was brilliant almost every time he stepped in front of a camera.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Hackman a few times, and like Kevin Kline, he was the same shy guy who turned up on talk shows. Almost too shy to chat up, it seemed.

Bill Murray and others might remember a hardass, exacting and brilliant, on the set. But Hackman always said he was trained to act, not to be a celebrity or be interviewed.

That cocky, blustery larger than life persona that turned up in many a film, debuting in “The Poseidon Adventure?” “ACTING” as they say.

I remember him apologizing for “Welcome to Mooseport,” because nobody wants to “go out with a stinker.” Just as Connery apologized for his final film.

“Bonnie and Clyde” to “Young Frankenstein,” “Night Moves” to “Heist” and “Unforgiven,” “Crimson Tide,” “Hoosiers” and on and on the filmography goes, an “American Master” PBS has yet to get around to lionizing.

Droll in “Superman,” silly in “Heartbreakers,” “Royal Tenenbaums” and “Get Shorty,” an action hero here and there — “The French Connection” movies, “The Package,” “Mississippi Burning”…

Hackman never ever disappointed.

Hackman “closed the door” on screen acting decades ago, and co-wrote Civil War fiction and did radio interviews about that which I’d catch from time to time. He seemed to be enjoying that sort of retirement.

A great one has passed, and however he passed, he was a unique presence. Find some classic he was in and watch it tonight. I know I will.