Audio of a chilling emergency call has been released as police continue to investigate the mysterious death of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife.

Police have revealed that Oscar-winner Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple’s Santa Fe home on Wednesday (US time).

Hackman, 95, was found dead in room near the home’s entrance, while his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives wrote in a search warrant.

An open prescription bottle and pills were reportedly scattered on a bathroom vanity near Arakawa.

Denise Avila, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said there was no indication the couple had been shot. Neither had any wounds.

The maintenance worker who discovered the bodies reported the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work on Wednesday. He called police after finding the bodies.

Send somebody really quick

During the two-minute phone call, the worker told an emergency operator that he and a colleague had found “two or one deceased” people inside a house.

“Please send somebody really quick,” he begged.

As the dispatcher paused to call for the paramedics, the caller began crying while repeatedly saying, “Damn”.

“[It’s] a female and a male probably. I don’t know, sir. Just send somebody up here really quick,” the worker who was still outside the house can be heard saying.

He insisted they were not “awake” or “alert” and he saw no signs of movement.

“No, dude, they’re not moving” he said while growing increasingly concerned. “Just send somebody out here really quick.”

The New Mexico Gas Co tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant.

At the time, it found no signs of problems. Nor has there been any sign of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning.

A sheriff’s detective wrote there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning.

The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the most acclaimed actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

The secluded New Mexico home of Hackman and Arakawa. Photo: AAP

“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just dad and grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss,” Hackman’s daughters and granddaughter said on Thursday.

The maintenance worker said he and a colleague rarely saw Hackman or Arakawa. Their last contact with them was about two weeks earlier.

Hackman appeared to have fallen, a deputy observed. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, grey trackpants and slippers. A pair of sunglasses and a cane were nearby.

There was a dead German shepherd in a bathroom cupboard near Arakawa, police said. There were also two healthy dogs on the property – one inside and one outside.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, The New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade relocated to Santa Fe.

Their south-western-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains.

The sprawling four-bedroom home on 2½ hectares was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over $US4 million ($6.4 million), according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

Hollywood acclaim

Hackman routinely showed up on Hollywood list of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually any kind of role, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in Superman to a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favourite Hoosiers.

Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

Tributes quickly poured in from Hollywood. 

“There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much,” actor-director Clint Eastwood, Hackman’s Unforgiven co-star, said in a statement.

Hackman won his first of two Oscars for The French Connection. Photo: 20th Century Fox

Hackman also co-wrote three novels, starting with the swashbuckler, Wake of the Perdido Star, with Daniel Lenihan in 1999, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.

He then penned two by himself, concluding with Pursuit in 2013, about a female police officer on the tail of a predator.

In his first couple of decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the historic state capital, known as an artist enclave, tourism destination and retreat for celebrities.

In recent years, he was far less visible, though even the most mundane outings caught the attention of the press.

Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired from acting about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.

Hackman had two daughters and a son from his first marriage to Faye Maltese. He and Arakawa had no children together but were known for having German shepherds.

-with AAP