Gene Hackman tried to stay active before his health declined. Friends of the Oscar-winning actor spoke to Fox News Digital about how he was focused on his health, and was “bothered” by aging, before he died last month at 95 as a result of advanced Alzheimer’s, as well as heart disease and hypertension. Hackman’s pals said he played golf and did yoga in particular. “He was very fit, you know, and he was 6-foot-2 plus an ex-Marine,” said Stuart Ashman, a friend of Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s, who passed last month from hantavirus. “He did pilates like three times a week. And then on the days that he didn’t do pilates, he would load his bicycle up to his SUV and drive to Albuquerque, which is 70 miles, and ride this trail down there, which is along the river and it’s paved and level,” Ashman continued. “So he didn’t want to do mountain biking, but he did that. So he was in great shape.” Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home Feb. 26. She was 65. Following a police investigation, officials revealed Hackman died from heart disease with advanced Alzheimer’s disease being a contributing factor. The “Bonnie and Clyde” star “was in very poor health” before his death, said New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell. Officials determined that Hackman died roughly a week after his wife’s death from hantavirus, a flu-like illness spread mainly by rodent feces that attacks the lungs. According to the CDC, hantavirus is not spread from person to person. Stephen Marshall, an FBI agent who trained the couple through a community outreach program, told Fox News that Hackman “was concerned about the fact that he was getting older.” “He didn’t like being old, and seeing himself on film bothered him because he knew he didn’t look like that anymore,” Marshall said, recalling that the couple didn’t attend a screening for Hackman’s movie “Night Moves” because of his health struggles. “She said Gene broke into a cold sweat when she brought it up, but he just … didn’t want to be any part of it. And so I tried to respect that,” Marshall recalled. “When we went out, he didn’t want to advertise who he was. I remember the first time we went out, we’re walking down the street in Santa Fe, and I noticed people noticing him. And I said, ‘Do you get used to the idea of people going, Hey, that’s Gene Hackman?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but now they add, ‘And he got so old,’ ” Marshall said. “So I thought he looked much younger. I thought he looked great, but he was concerned that he had aged and that bothered him.” According to Marshall, the “French Connection” star was “starting to have some issues with age” sometime before his death. “And so I was seeing them less and less often. They were going out less,” he shared about Hackman and Arakawa. Hackman’s golf instructor, Mike Putnam, told Fox News that the late star was “determined” to learn the game. “I think he always probably expected to do a little better than he was doing, you know?” Putnam said. “But I was able to talk him through that and set the right expectations to help him enjoy it and not have such high expectations. “And Betsy, when she started playing, it frustrated him a little more, because she was a little more athletic, actually, and she kind of took to the game quicker and maybe probably just didn’t get in her own way. You could just see Gene grinding in his head. But gosh, what a delight both of them were,” Putnam added. According to the medical examiner, the autopsy and full body post-mortem CT examination carried out on Hackman’s body showed the actor had “severe heart disease,” a history of heart attacks, severe changes of the kidneys due to chronic high blood pressure, and had undergone “multiple surgical procedures involving the heart.” Jarrell also confirmed that Hackman and his wife did not die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Maintenance workers discovered the couple’s bodies after they were unable to get in touch with the couple. One of their three dogs was also found dead. Law enforcement arrived on the scene shortly after the workers contacted neighborhood security and confirmed the deaths the following day.