Dennis Hopper mini-bio: 1936-2010
Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director regarded by many as one of the true "enfant terribles" of Hollywood who has led an amazing cinematic career for more than five decades, Dennis Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. The young Hopper expressed interest in acting from a young age and first appeared in a slew of 1950s television shows, including "Medic" (1954), "Cheyenne" (1955) and "Sugarfoot" (1957). His first film role was in Johnny Guitar (1954), which was quickly followed by roles in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Giant (1956) and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Hopper actually became good friends with James Dean and was shattered when Dean was killed in a car crash in September, 1955.
Hopper portrayed a young 'Napoleon Bonaparte' in the star-spangled The Story of Mankind (1957) and regularly appeared on screen throughout the 1960s, often in rather undemanding parts, usually as a villain in westerns such as True Grit (1969) and Hang 'Em High (1968). However, in early 1969, Hopper, fellow actor Peter Fonda and writer Terry Southern, wrote a counterculture road movie script and managed to scrape together $400,000 in financial backing. Hopper directed the low-budget film, titled Easy Rider (1969), starring Fonda, Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson. The film was a phenomenal box-office success, appealing to the anti-establishment youth culture of the times. It changed the Hollywood landscape almost overnight and major studios all jumped onto the anti-establishment bandwagon, pumping out low-budget films about rebellious hippies, bikers, draft dodgers and pot smokers. However, Hopper's next directorial effort, The Last Movie (1971), was a critical and financial failure, and he has admitted that during the 1970s he was seriously abusing various substances, both legal and illegal, which led to a downturn in the quality of his work. He appeared in a sparse collection of European-produced films over the next eight years, before cropping up in a memorable performance as a pot-smoking photographer alongside Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now (1979). He also received acclaim for his work in both acting and direction for Out of the Blue (1980).
With these two notable efforts, the beginning of the 1980s saw a renaissance of interest by Hollywood in the talents of Dennis Hopper and exorcising the demons of drugs and alcohol via a rehabilitation program meant a return to invigorating and provoking performances. He was superb in Rumble Fish (1983), co-starred in the tepid spy thriller The Osterman Weekend (1983), played a groovy school teacher in My Science Project (1985), was a despicable and deranged drug dealer in River's Edge (1986) and, most memorably, electrified audiences as foul-mouthed Frank Booth in the eerie and erotic David Lynch film Blue Velvet (1986). Interestingly, the offbeat Hopper was selected in the early 1980s to provide the voice of "The StoryTeller" in the animated series of "Rabbit Ears" children's films based upon the works of Hans Christian Andersen.
Hopper returned to film direction in the late 1980s and was at the helm of the controversial gang film Colors (1988), which was well received by both critics and audiences. He was back in front of the cameras for roles in Super Mario Bros. (1993), got on the wrong side of gangster Christopher Walken in True Romance (1993), led police officer Keanu Reeves and bus passenger Sandra Bullock on a deadly ride in Speed (1994/I) and challenged gill-man Kevin Costner for world supremacy in Waterworld (1995). The enigmatic Hopper has continued to remain busy through the 1990s and into the new century with performances in The Night We Called It a Day (2003), The Keeper (2004) and Land of the Dead (2005).
As well as his acting/directing talents, Hopper is a skilled photographer and painter, having had his works displayed in galleries in both the US and overseas. He is additionally a dedicated and knowledgeable collector of modern art and has one of the most extensive collections in the US.
His 1970 marriage to Michelle Phillips lasted just a few days, during his wild and woolly, drug-fueled period. She also appears briefly in The Last Movie (1971), Hopper's almost-disastrously appropriately entitled solo directorial effort, following Easy Rider (1969). At one point in this era, Hopper was arrested after he was found raving, naked. After early success as a child star in theater, his movie career was practically stillborn when Louis B. Mayer banned him from the MGM lot after Hopper responded forcefully, in kind, when the mogul belittled his desire to play Shakespearen roles.
His house in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, is a radical architectural statement.
Ranked #87 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Reported that Rip Torn has won a $475,000 defamation suit against Hopper. Lawsuit came about after remarks made by Hopper on "The Tonight Show" on 31 May 1994. [14 March 1997]
Dennis Hopper married Victoria Duffy in Boston, at the Old South Church.
Lamenting to an audience Q & A in Sydney that he had "never had any great roles", Hopper nominated Splendor in the Grass (1961) as the one he most wished he'd been given.
Belongs to the Top 100 collectors of modern art.
Had his photography exhibited at Fort Worth, Denver, Wichita, Cochran, and Spileto art museums, as well as the Parco Gallery and in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Kumatomo, Japan.
As a youngster in Kansas City, he took classes taught by legendary painter Thomas Hart Benton, who told him: "One day you'll learn to get tight, and paint loose.".
At one time, was blackballed from Hollywood roles for eight years.
1 September 2000 - A Canadian judge dismissed marijuana charges against Hopper stemming from an October 1999 arrest in Calgary.
Father of Marin Hopper, born June 26th 1962, with Brooke Hayward.
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), he says "Boys, boys, boys." when he first meets Leatherface and the Sawyer family. Hopper says the exact same thing when he first meets the heroes in Super Mario Bros. (1993).
Dennis and Victoria Duffy Hopper's first child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper, was born on March 26, 2003 in L.A.
His parents are Jay and Marjorie Hopper. His father died in 1982 and his mother remarried.
Graduate of Helix High School, La Mesa, California. Class of 1954, which voted him "Most Likely To Succeed."
Hopper is quoted in the book "Marilyn Beck's Hollywood" (1973) as saying that the Manson Massacre of Sharon Tate and friends was the backlash from a sex and drugs party the week previously, in which a drug dealer was tied up and whipped before a crowd for selling "bad dope" to the residents of 10050 Cielo Drive. As can be seen by Rip Torn's success in prosecuting a defamation suit against Hopper in the 1990s, he is not the most reliable witness to history.
James Dean learned he had an interest in photography when they worked together, and encouraged him to pursue it as an alternative to just being an actor. Hopper published a book of photos in the late 1980s, including pictures of stars he'd known, and thanked Dean.
Is portrayed by Jarrod Dean in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV).
Provided the narration for the Gorillaz song "Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head".
Member of the US Republican Party.
Thinks that James Dean is the best actor he ever worked with since he met him on the set of Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
His performance as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (1986) is ranked #54 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Has a son with 'Katherine LaNasa' named Henry Lee Hopper, born on September 1990.
Has a daughter with Daria Halprin named Ruthana Hopper, born in 1974.
His acting career has taken him all over the world, and to date he has filmed movies in over 22 countries. (May 2007).
