Actor Dennis Hopper is dead at 74
The only Hollywood actor to whom I ever spoke in person is dead. Dennis Hopper was also a director, screen writer, and a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor.
Dennis Hopper who played the countercultural biker named Billy in the pivotal 1969 film, “Easy Rider” (which he co-wrote and directed) died this morning at his Venice, California home from prostate cancer at age 74. Hopper won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of “Easy Rider.”
The tagline of Easy Rider was, “A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere.”
Dennis Lee Hopper was born in Dodge City, Kansas, on May 17, 1936. He grew up in San Diego, California, and established an early reputation for stage work. Hopper made his way to Hollywood while in his teens and earned roles in several films and TV shows, including “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) in which he met his role model, James Dean (when he was 18 and Dean was 24). Hopper and Dean also appeared together in “Giant” (1956). Hopper said that Dean was “”a guerrilla artist who attacked all restrictions on his sensibility. … I imitated his style in art and in life. It got me in a lot of trouble.” James Dean died in a car accident in September 1955.
Hopper had an uneven career in the mid-1960s and appeared in the John Wayne film “The Sons of Katie Elder” (1965), the Paul Newman classic “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), and as several TV shows — often Westerns. The 1967 psychedelic film “The Trip,” directed by “King of the B’s” Roger Corman, exposed Hopper to two of his “Easy Rider” colleagues, actor Peter Fonda, and “Trip” writer, Jack Nicholson.
“Easy Rider” was made on the fly by Hopper and Fonda for less than $500,000 and became one of the highest grossing films of all time. The film also helped Nicholson to stardom, in his role as an ill-fated, alcoholic lawyer.
In the 1970s, Hopper descended into drug abuse and alcoholism. After a breakdown in a Latin American jungle, he entered rehab in the early 1980s. A featured role in “Apocalypse Now” (1979) brought him attention, and he subsequently appeared in “Rumble Fish” (1983) and “The Osterman Weekend” (1983). Hopper was determined to win the role of Frank Booth, the villain in the very dark 1986 film, “Blue Velvet,” in which he was unforgettable. Hopper then played the drunk father of a high school basketball player in “Hoosiers” (1986). Hopper had notable roles in “Speed” (the villain!) (1994),” “Basquiat” (1996), “Jesus’ Son” (1999) and the TV show “Crash.”
Hopper was married five times (including an eight-day marriage to his second wife, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas) and had four children, aged 47 to 6. He filed for divorce from his fifth wife, Victoria, and had a restraining order against her – she agreed to keep 10 feet away.
Hopper was honored with the rank of Commandeur (commander) of France’s National Order of Arts and Letters, at a ceremony in Paris in 2008.
Hopper was honored with the 2,403rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard on March 26, 2010.
-Bill at
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