Gene Hackman, the beloved actor, was found dead in his Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Thursday morning. He was 95 years old. His wife, 64-year-old pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog were also found dead elsewhere inside the house. Authorities do not suspect foul play, though the fire department “did not locate signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning” when it responded to the home and conducted testing, per NBC News. An investigation into the cause of the deaths is ongoing.

Mr. Hackman was among the most decorated and well-respected actors of the last century. He was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two during a 40-year career. His IMDB page lists more than 100 film credits between 1961 and 2004. He was known for “playing seemingly ordinary characters with deceptive subtlety, intensity and often charm,” as The New York Times‘ obituary for Hackman handily summarizes. “There’s no identifiable quality that makes Mr. Hackman stand out,” film critic Janet Maslin wrote of Hackman in The New York Times in 1988. “He simply makes himself outstandingly vital and real.”

Yes, this is a music publication, not an acting one, and yes, the music connection here is tenuous at best, but Gene was on my mind as I hit my desk this morning, so we’re gonna do some stretching. Stick with me: A Gene Hackman character was often stern and stentorian on the surface—a mask he wore masterfully—but the most gratifying moments in many of those characters’ arcs came when he allowed glimpses of joy and childlike innocence to shine through his patented curtain of stoicism, or underscored the happiness in another character’s moves with his reaction to them. Most often, these weren’t the most “important” moments of a given film, but many times they ended up being among the most memorable—the most real. That phenomenon is something with which music fans are certainly familiar: No matter how “serious” you may be in the real world, you’ll go to a show, lose track of the harsh realities of your existence, catch yourself dancing, and remember that life is beautiful.

In thinking about that unique brand of charm today, I kept coming back to scenes that involved a Gene Hackman character and dancing—whether it’s him dancing himself,  him reacting to other characters’ dancing, or even talking about dancing. If we’re being totally honest, the first clip that got me thinking about Gene Hackman and dancing was the life-sized piano/FAO Schwartz scene with Tom Hanks from Big—but even after Google reminded me that that was the similar-looking Robert Loggia, not Hackman, there were still plenty of notable examples. As we remember the joy Gene Hackman brought to viewers for decades, crack a smile and bust a move to these Gene Hackman “dancing” scenes from through the years (see, we got there eventually).

Related: Remembering Acclaimed Actor Michael K. Williams Through His First Passion, Dance [Videos]

Rest easy, Gene Hackman. We’ll miss you.

Gene Hackman Entertains The Bar Crowd – Scarecrow (1973)

Gene Hackman (Awkwardly) Dances In Drag – The Birdcage (1996)

Gene Hackman Breaks Up The Team’s Dance Party – The Replacements (2000)

Gene Hackman Smiling Stoically As The Hoosiers Do Their Victory Dances – Hoosiers (1986) 

Gene Hackman Getting Down Vacation Style – The Firm (1993)

Honorable Mention: Gene Hackman’s “Not Talking About Dance Lessons” (Just Other Shenanigans) – The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)