Gene Hackman... a consumnate American actor

Strange topic I guess.  Just surfed in to "The Quick And The Dead" (1995 - teen Leonardo DiCaprio, Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, etc..).  While he does ham it up when playing the villain (he is a classic "Snydely Whiplash" villain, sans curly moustache), especially as Lex Luthor in the Superman movies, he is a very compelling screen presence.  It's hard not to like the villain in these movies, if you've a sense of humor anyway.  I was thinking how, it seems to me anyway, he is underrated as a protagonist;  his numerous bad-guy portrayals serve to overshadow the roles in which he plays the hero, or at least one of the good guys.   I think he is a stellar actor, and only wish he had played more roles as the protagonist.  It's hard not to rally around Gene Hackman when he's the good guy.  In fact, as alluded previously, it's even hard not to rally around his evil villain, for his brilliant boasting, his witty diatribes that invariably, and surgically, tear-down his nemesis' character, values and ideals.  Good stuff.  Hard to believe he was in "The French Connection" almost forty years ago.   Character's name was "Popeye", if I recall correctly.  I never knew anyone with that name - not ever.