William Hopper plays 'Stump the Stars' with the cast of Dennis Hopper's final movie.
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor and filmmaker.After attending the Actors Studio, he made his first television appearance in 1954.He made a name for himself in television in the next ten years, and by the end of the 1960s he had appeared in several films.Hopper began his photography career in the 1960s.[2]
Peter Fonda and Terry Southern wrote the script for Hopper's directorial debut, Easy Rider.The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared with Fonda and Southern."With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion".Matthew Hays wrote that Dennis Hopper is the best example of lost idealism of the 1960s.[4]
After the failure of his second film as a director, The Last Movie, he worked on various independent and foreign projects, in which he was frequently typecast as mentally disturbed outsiders, until he found new fame for his work.He went on to helm his third directorial work, Out of the Blue, in 1980, and also appeared in two other films.He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting actor in 1986 for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, both of which he starred in.His fourth directorial outing was the lead performance in Paris Trout.The Hot Spot was directed by Dennis Hopper.Hopper played the villains of the films Super Mario Bros., Speed, and Waterworld.
The film of the same name inspired Hopper's role in the short-lived television series Crash.He appeared in three films that were released posthumously: Alpha and Omega, The Last Film Festival and The Other Side of the Wind.[5]
Hopper was born on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas, the son of Marjorie Mae and James Millard Hopper.He had ancestors from Scotland.Hopper had two brothers.[9]
The young Hopper attended Saturday art classes at the Kansas City Art Institute after moving to Missouri.When Hopper was 13, his family moved to San Diego, where his mother worked as a lifeguard instructor and his father was a post office manager, having previously served in the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency.Hopper was active in the drama club, speech and choir at Helix High School, where he was voted the most likely to succeed.He studied at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and the Actors Studio in New York City, where he studied with Lee Strasberg for five years.Hopper's interest in art was influenced by his friendship with actorVincent Price.He loved the plays of William Shakespeare.
Hopper has stated that he was not in Hollywood when Johnny Guitar was made, despite being reported to have an uncredited role in the film.Hopper made his film debut in two roles, one of which was with James Dean.After Dean's death in a car accident in 1955, the young Hopper got into a confrontation with the veteran director of the film From Hell to Texas.Hopper forced Hathaway to shoot more than 80 takes of a scene before he agreed to his direction.After filming was done, Hopper was told that his career in Hollywood was over.It was [13].
In his book Last Train to Memphis, American popular music historian Peter Guralnick says that when Elvis Presley was making his first film in Hollywood, Hopper was roommates with Nick Adams and the three became friends.Hopper studied Method acting at the Actors Studio in New York.Night Tide was Hopper's first lead role and it was an atmospheric supernatural thriller.
In a December 1994 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Hopper credited John Wayne with saving his career, as Hopper acknowledged that he could not find work in Hollywood for seven years because of his behavior.Hopper stated that because he was the son-in-law of actress Margaret Sullavan, a friend of John Wayne, Wayne hired Hopper for a role in The Sons of Katie Elder, which allowed Hopper to restart his film career.Hopper acted in a John Wayne film and became well acquainted with him.In both of the films with Wayne, Hopper's character is killed in the presence of Wayne and he utters his dying words.
Hopper had a supporting role as the bet-taker.Easy Rider was made in 1969 by Hopper, Fonda, Southern and Nicholson.Hopper had starring roles in two major box office films that summer after the release of True Grit.Hopper was praised for his innovative editing for Easy Rider.The production was plagued by creative differences and personal acrimony between Fonda and Hopper, the dissolution of Hopper's marriage to Hayward, and his addiction to drugs and alcohol.The cocaine problem in the United States is due to Hopper.Easy Rider was on the street.It was everywhere after Easy Rider.[18]
One of the first films to portray the hippie lifestyle showed drug use on film.Hopper became a stereotype for some male youths who rejected traditional jobs and traditional American culture, partly exemplified by Fonda's long sideburns and Hopper wearing a long mustache.They were denied proper service in restaurants because of their radical looks.Their long hair became a point of contention during the film.[19]
Hopper wasn't able to take advantage of his Easy Rider success for a long time.The Last Movie was filmed in 1970 and finished in 1971.It won the prestigiousCIDALC Award at the Venice Film Festival, but Universal Studios leaders expected a blockbuster like Easy Rider, and did not like the film or give it an enthusiastic release, while American film audiences found it confusing.Jules Stein rose from his chair and said, "I just don't understand this younger generation." after viewing the first release print, fresh from the lab, in his screening room at Universal.The Mabel Dodge Luhan House in New Mexico was where Hopper stayed for almost an entire year during the editing process.He married the singer of The Mamas and the Papas on Halloween of 1970 after contesting Fonda's rights to the majority of the residual profits from Easy Rider.The marriage lasted eight days.
Hopper was able to sustain his lifestyle and a measure of celebrity by acting in numerous low budget and European films throughout the 1970s as the "tormented maniac".Hopper returned to prominence as a hyper-manic Vietnam-era photographer after seeing Francis Ford Coppola's movie.Hopper was praised for his directing and acting in Out of the Blue in 1980.In the Neil Young/Dean Stockwell low-budget collaboration Human Highway, Hopper starred as an addled short-order cook.His unreliable behavior delayed production.According to the New Hollywood history Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Hopper's cocaine intake had reached three grams a day by this time, with 30 beers, and some marijuana and Cuba libres.
After staging a "suicide attempt" in a coffin using 17 sticks of dynamite during an "art happening" at the Rice University Media Center, and then disappearing into the Mexican desert, Brian Huberman, a professor and documentary filmmaker, filmed the act.
Hopper's performance as the gas-huffing, obscenity-screaming villain Frank Booth in Blue Velvet was one of the highlights of his career.Hopper told Lynch to let him play Frank Booth.Because I am Frank Booth.He was nominated for an Oscar for his role as an alcoholic assistant basketball coach in Hoosiers.Hopper was in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.In 1988 he directed Colors, a police procedural about gang violence in Los Angeles starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall.
In the 1990 comedy flashback, Hopper plays himself as an old hippie who flees in a bus to the tune of Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild.He was nominated for an award for his film Paris Trout.He played a drug smuggler in Doublecrossed.Super Mario Bros., a 1993 critical and commercial failure, was based on the video game of the same name.He played a character in True Romance.He played H.P. in the 1994 movie Speed, as well as co-stars in two other movies.There is a TV movie called Witch Hunt.
Hopper played a greedy TV self-help guru in 1995.He played the one-eyed nemesis of Kevin Costner in Waterworld.Space Truckers was directed by Stuart Gordon.He starred in The Prophet's Game in 1999, which was directed by David Worth.Hopper was in the running for the dual lead in Firecracker, but was ousted at the last minute by Mike Patton.Hopper played Paul Kaufman in Land of the Dead.Hopper starred in An American Carol in 2008.He played The Death in Palermo shooting.Elegy was his last major feature film appearance.He was the voice of Tony, the alpha-male of the Eastern wolf pack, in the computer animated film Alpha and Omega.He died before the movie was released.The film was dedicated to his memory at the beginning of the credits.
After decades of legal, financial and technical delays, Hopper's film The Other Side of the Wind was finally released on the internet.[5]
Hopper appeared in an episode of Medic in 1955 as a young epileptic.
He played an arrogant young gunfighter named the Utah Kid in the first hour-long western television series, starring Clint Walker.In the story, the Kid killed the man in a gunfight.Hopper played a thief in "The Iron Trail" in 1957.He played Billy the Kid on "Brannigan's Boots" with Will Hutchins.
He played Vernon Tippet in the very first episode of The Rifleman.Sam Peckinpah wrote the premiere episode of the series "The Sharpshooter".[25]
He appeared in over 140 episodes of television shows.
Hopper sang a duet with Cash on the 2nd episode of "The Johnny Cash Show" on 30 September 1970.Kris Kristofferson wrote the song about Hopper, Cash said.According to Hopper, Kristopher wrote some songs for the movie "The Last Movie", in which he appeared with Julie Adams.Hopper read a famous poem by Kipling during his appearance.[28]
In the early 1990s, Hopper and Nike collaborated on a series of commercials.He was a "crazed referee" in those ads.He played the villain Victor Drazen in the first season of 24.
The final two episodes of Fishing with John featured Hopper.
The television series E-Ring was canceled after 14 episodes after Hopper starred as a U.S. Army colonel.Hopper appeared in 22 episodes.Crash lasted two seasons and he played the part of record producer Ben Cendars.
Hopper was an artist beyond film.He was a prolific artist.30
Hopper's interest in art began when he was a child in Kansas City, Missouri.Many of his works were destroyed in the Bel Air fire in 1961, but he continued to paint and write poetry.His painting style varies from abstract impressionism to photorealism and often includes references to his cinematic work.[34]
Hopper was ostracized by the Hollywood film studios due to his reputation for being a "difficult" actor and turned to photography in 1961.The cover art for the album River Deep - Mountain High was created by him.Hopper was profiled as an up-and-coming photographer by Terry Southern in the mid-1960s.Hopper's early photography is known for portraits from the 1960s, and he began shooting portraits for Vogue and other magazines.The photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington and the civil-rights march in Alabama were published.His intimate and unguarded images of Andy Warhol, Jane Fonda, The Byrds, Paul Newman, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Brown, Peter Fonda and Ed Ruscha, among others, became.The book was edited by his daughter, Marin Hopper, who lived in the Hollywood Hills.In 1960–67, before the making of Easy Rider, Hopper created 18,000 images that chronicled the remarkable artists, musicians, actors places, happenings, demonstrations, and concerts of that period.Dennis Hopper: Photographs was published in February 2011.In The New Yorker, Hopper was described as "a compelling, important photographer."[36]
Hopper was a painter, poet, and collector of art in the 1960s, particularly Pop Art.He amassed a formidable array of 20th- and 21st-century art, including a shattered-plate portrait of Hopper, as well as works by Ed Ruscha, Edward Kienholz, and Roy Lichtenstein.He was involved in L.A.'s Ferus and Virginia Dwan galleries in the 1960s.One of the first art works Hopper owned was an early print of Campbell's Soup Cans.The two bullet holes on Warhol's Mao, which Hopper shot one evening in a fit of paranoia, could add to its value.The print sold for US$302,500 at Christie's in January 2011.The proceeds of the two-day sale of some 300 pieces from Hopper's collection went to his four children.40
Hopper's own work as well as his collection were shown in a number of exhibitions around the world.In March 2010, it was announced that Hopper was on the short list for a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.In April 2010, Deitch confirmed that Hopper's work will be the focus of his debut at MOCA.The title of the exhibition, Double Standard, was taken from Hopper's famous photograph of two Standard Oil signs on Route 66 in Los Angeles.Ed Ruscha's second solo exhibition was held at Ferus Gallery in 1964.
Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel was published by Barricade Books in 2011.Hopper: A Journey into the American Dream was published byHarper Collins.[42]
Hopper narrates the song "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" on the Gorillaz album.[45]
In the late 1980s, Hopper purchased a trio of nearly identical two-story, loft-style condominiums at 330 Indiana Avenue in Venice Beach, California, built by Frank Gehry and two artist friends of Hopper's.He commissioned Brian Murphy to design a corrugated metal exterior for his main residence in 1987.[47]
Hopper was one of Hollywood's most notorious drug users for 20 years.After the success of Easy Rider, he lived as an "outcast" in New Mexico.Hopper was "notorious for his troubled relationships with women", including the woman who divorced him after eight days of marriage.Hopper was married five times.
According to an interview with Parade, Hopper, Dean Stockwell, and Neil Young were the three famous friends of her father.50
Rip Torn filed a defamation lawsuit against Hopper after Hopper told a story on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.During the pre-production of Easy Rider, Hopper claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him.After the incident, Jack Nicholson replaced Torn in the film.According to his suit, it was Hopper who pulled the knife on him.Hopper was ordered to pay US$475,000 in damages after a judge ruled in his favor.Hopper had to pay US$550,000 in punitive damages after the judge ruled in his favor again.[51]
Hopper donated US$2,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2004 and an equal amount in 2005.[52]
Hopper received the rank of commander of France's National Order of Arts and Letters at a ceremony in Paris.[52]
Hopper supported Barack Obama despite being a Republican.Hopper confirmed this in an election day appearance on The View.He said he didn't vote for the Republican because they chose Sarah Palin as their vice presidential candidate.[55]
Hopper filed for divorce from his fifth wife on January 14, 2010.On February 11, 2010, Hopper was granted a restraining order against her after she stated that she was "insane", "inhuman" and "volatile".On March 9, 2010, she refused to leave the Hopper home despite the court's order that she do so by March 15.[58]
On March 23, 2010, he filed papers in court claiming that Duffy had fled with US$ 1.5 million of his art, refused his requests to return it, and then left town.[59]
On April 5, 2010, a court ruled that Duffy could live on Hopper's property, and that he had to pay child and spousal support for their daughter.Hopper wasn't at the hearing.A hearing was held in Los Angeles Superior Court.He was well enough to be deposed, despite Hopper's death two weeks later.Hopper's wife was listed as a beneficiary on his life insurance policy.Hopper did not show up in court because he was very ill.Despite her attempt to be named the sole beneficiary of Hopper's million-dollar policy, the judge ruled against her and limited her claim to 25% of the policy.He had US$750,000 left to go to his estate.[63]
On November 14, 2010, it was revealed that Hopper was mentally incompetent and that his children had rewritten his estate plan in order to leave his daughter, Hopper's youngest child, penniless.[64]
On September 28, 2009, Hopper was brought by ambulance to a Manhattan hospital with a number of tubes visible.He was discharged after treatment for dehydration.66
Hopper's manager Sam Maydew reported on October 29 that he had been diagnosed with advanced prostrate cancer.It was reported in January 2010 that Hopper's cancer had spread to his bones.[68]