Dennis Hopper, best
known as the director and star of Easy Rider and for his
roles in Hoosiers, Blue Velvet and Apocalypse Now, died in
Venice, California of prostate cancer. He turned 74 two weeks ago.
Born May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas, Hopper was a life-long fixture
in Hollywood. His long career included roles in some of the best or most
well-known films from each decade of the last half-century. In the '50s
he appeared in two of James
Dean's three films; as one of the goons, troubling Dean's Jim Stark
in 1955's Rebel Without a
Cause, then as Jordan Benedict III in Giant. Hopper became
friends with Dean, who died in a car accident in September of 1955, as
his star was on the rise.
Hopper spent much of the '60s on television, usually playing a nervous,
fidgety criminal but Hopper ended the decade with a triumph. He directed
and starred in Easy
Rider, a film made on a shoestring that became a nation-wide
phenomenon and that helped define the hippie generation (at least for
people who weren't really of that generation). Hopper played Billy,
half of an iconic duo, looking for America with Wyatt (aka Captain
America), played by Peter
Fonda (who also co-wrote the film). The memorable third act line
from Wyatt, "You know Billy, we blew it" would bedevil critics as they
hounded both actors for the meaning of the line for the next forty
years. Nevertheless the film was nominated for an Academy Award for the
script and neither men ever essentially divulged what that line truly
meant.
The film made so much money that Hopper was allowed to indulge in his
whims and darker demons through the next thirteen years, first directing
the bizarre The Last
Movie and thereafter cementing his reputation as an erratic,
difficult person to be around and to employ.
The '70s included Hopper's underrated turn as Tom Ripley in Wim
Wenders's The American
Friend and as a photographer-turned-high-priest proselytizing for Marlon Brando's
jungle-god Kurtz in Francis
Ford Coppola's Apocalypse
Now.
Hopper's rumored drug addictions and abusive demeanor while high were
part of his mystique until 1983 when a nearly catatonic Hopper was found
wandering in the woods in Mexico naked. He entered rehab shortly after
which then resulted in a rumored 30-year-dedication to sobriety and
another one of his comebacks.
1986 was a particularly kind year to Hopper as Blue Velvet and Hoosiers (and a minor
role in River's Edge)
put him back on Hollywood's radar. The role in Hoosiers, of an
alcoholic who struggles to become an assistant basketball coach, earned
him an Oscar nomination. But it was his completely creepy turn as Frank
Booth, sucking from an air tank in David Lynch's disturbing,
great Blue Velvet
that stuck with people and gave Pabst Blue Ribbon a reason to celebrate.
The '90s included great roles in John Dahl's noir-western Red Rock West ('93) and
Tony Scott's True Romance ('93) and
another chance to prove what a true villain looked and felt like in Jan De Bont's Speed.
Hopper is survived by four children.
Rest in Peace Dennis. You will be missed.
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