Father of actress Kaitlin Hopkins. Kaitlin took the last name of her
stepfather, British writer John Hopkins.
Primarily a stage producer on Broadway ("You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown"), Gene was a juvenile film actor who appeared as one of Kettle
children in a few of the "Ma and Pa Kettle" film series during the
50s.
He produced the L.A. stage and British film version of Dutchman (1966),
which starred his then-wife, actress Shirley Knight. Ms. Knight won the Venice
Film Festival award for this film.
He is the father of Lukas Persson and Markus Persson of New York City, New York.
He was the son of Oscar Persson and Leah Krascoff.