Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, died on February 11 at their New Mexico home from a flu-like infection caught from rat faeces. Hackman, 95, died a week later from heart disease, with his advanced Alzheimer’s “a significant factor”. The couple’s bodies and one of their three dogs named Zinna were found on February 26.

Arakawa had picked up Zinna, a 12-year-old Australian Kelpie mixed-breed, from a Santa Fe veterinary office on Feb. 9, one of Arakawa’s last acts before she died of Hantavirus, a rare flu-like disease linked to rodents.