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Easy Rider
Background:
"Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and
contribute something to the next generation." Dennis Hopper.
Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director Dennis Hopper
broke the movie scene with his feature directing and co-writing
debut, the Oscar-nominated Easy Rider (1969), in which he also
starred opposite Peter Fonda. The five-decade actor/director who was
once blackballed from Hollywood roles for eight years received an
Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for acting in Hoosiers
(1986). He had acted in American Friend (1977), Blue Velvet (1986),
Speed (1994) and Out of Season (2004). His directing works include
Colors (1988), Catchfire (1990), The Hot Spot (1990) and Chasers
(1994).
Hopper, one of Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie
Stars of All Time" (October 1997), will star in the upcoming
films: Hoboken Hollow, America, and Alpha Numeric. One of the top
collectors of modern American art and a painter, Hopper belongs to
the Top 100 collectors of modern art, which could collect millions at
auction.
Art Collector
Childhood and Family:
The son of Jay (died in 1982) and Marjorie Hopper (remarried),
Dennis Hopper was born on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas. His
grandparents raised Dennis on a farm in Dodge City, Kansas. While
studying at Helix High School, La Mesa, California (class of 1954),
Dennis was voted most likely to succeed by his classmates and began
to develop his interest in acting. He later signed up with Old Globe
Theatre in San Diego, California and studied with Lee Strasberg for
five years at Actors Studio in New York, New York.
In 1961, Dennis Hopper married Brooke Hayward, daughter of
agent-producer Leland Hayward and actor Margaret Sullavan (author of
family memoir Haywire), but they divorced in 1969. A year later, on
October 31, 1970, Hopper tied the knot with singer and actress
Michelle Phillips. Their marriage, during Hopper’s wild and
woolly, drug-fueled period, lasted just eight days as they divorced
on November 8 that same year. In 1972, Hopper married therapist and
former actress Daria Halprin, but the marriage also ended in divorce
in 1976. In 1987, Hopper met ballet dancer and choreographer
Katherine LaNasa (born on December 1, 1967; formerly a principal
dancer with the Karole Armitage Ballet of New York) and married her
on June 17, 1989. Hopper and LaNasa divorced in April of 1992. That
same year, Hopper began dating Victoria Duffy and they exchanged
wedding vows on April 13, 1996 in Boston, at the Old South Church.
From his marriages, Dennis Hopper has four three daughters:
Ruthana Hopper (born in 1974; mother: Daria Halprin), Marin Hopper
(born in 1961; mothe: Brooke Hayward), Galen Grier Hopper (born on
March 26, 2003; mother: Victoria Duffy) and one son, Henry Lee Hopper
(born in September 1990; mother: Katherine LaNasa). He also has one
granddaughter, Violet (born on October 13, 2002; mother Marin
Hopper).
Shooter Hoosiers
Career:
"In the 50s, when me and Natalie Wood and James Dean and Nick
Adams and Tony Perkins suddenly arrived... God, it was a whole group
of us that sort of felt like that earlier group - the John
Barrymores, Errol Flynns, Sinatras, Clifts - were a little farther
out than we were... So we tried to emulate that lifestyle. For
instance, once Natalie and I decided we'd have an orgy. And Natalie
says 'O.K., but we have to have a champagne bath.' So we filled the
bathtub full of champagne. Natalie takes off her clothes, sits down
in the champagne, starts screaming. We take her to the emergency
hospital. That was *our* orgy, you understand?" Dennis Hopper.
Finishing high school, Dennis Hopper acted with the Pasadena
Playhouse, California. After an uncredited appearance in Nicholas
Ray's adaptation of Roy Chanslor's novel, Johnny Guitar (1954,
starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden), Hopper made his acting
debut as a young epileptic on an episode of the Richard Boone
television show, "Boy in the Storm" on "Medic" in
January of 1955. Also in that year, Hopper signed with Warner Bros
and reunited with Johnny Guitar director in his teen-terror drama
Rebel Without a Cause (1955, alongside James Dean and Natalie Wood).
Hopper subsequently won roles in films like Stuart Heisler's crime
film-noir inspired by W.R. Burnett's novel High Sierra, I Died a
Thousand Times (1955, starring Jack Palance), George Stevens' take on
Edna Ferber's novel, the legendary epic Giant (1956, with Elizabeth
Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean) and John Sturges' Western film
adapted from George Scullin's article, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
(1957, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas). He also played Napoleon
Bonaparte in Irwin Allen's classic fantasy The Story of Mankind
(1957, alongside Ronald Colman) and appeared (as Ed Novak) in two
episodes of TV series "Conflict" ("No Man's Road"
and "A Question of Loyalty"; both in 1957), which were
released theatrically abroad.
On the set of the Western drama adapted from Charles O. Locke's
novel, From Hell to Texas (1958) Hopper involved in legendary
conflict with director Henry Hathaway and reportedly did over 100
takes of a simple scene before giving the requested line reading. The
infamous incident Hopper claimed dropped him from contract at Warner
Bros. and banned him from major studio productions for eight years.
He then left Hollywood for New York City to study acting with Lee
Strasberg for five years. He also worked extensively on television
and began a secondary career as a photographer.
Hopper got his first feature-starring role as young sailor Johnny
Drake in writer-director Curtis Harrington's low-budget horror drama
Night Tide (1961). After his unbilled double for Tarzan in Andy
Warhol's Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1964), Hopper returned
to Hollywood. He was seen in such films as The Sons of Katie Elder
(1965), Queen of Blood (1966), The Trip (1967), Cool Hand Luke
(1967), The Glory Stompers (1968), Hang 'Em High (1968) and Panic in
the City (1968). He also hit back the movie scene with his
collaboration with Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969). In the action
adventure film, Hopper made his feature directing and co-writing
debut, as well as costarred (also with Peter Fonda) as two
long-haired bikers who set off on a cross-country trek to New
Orleans. The film earned Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination
(Hopper shared with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern) and won Hopper
Best New Director at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.
In 1971, Hopper was credited as co-writer of documentary about
himself, L M Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller-directed The American
Dreamer, and directed, co-wrote (with talented screenwriter Stewart
Stern) and starred as stuntman Kansas in the little-seen, bizarre
drama The Last Movie. Afterward, Hopper played unmemorable roles in
films like The Other Side of the Wind (1972), Crush Proof (1972), Kid
Blue (1973), Tracks (1976), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Amerikanische
Freund, Der (1977, a.k.a. The American Friend), The Sorceror's
Apprentice (1977), Ordre et la sécurité du monde, L'
(1978, a.k.a. Concorde Affair) and Couleur chair (1979, a.k.a. Flesh
Color). He later won converted notice for small but affected role as
the photojournalist in Francis Coppola's loosely based on Joseph
Conrad's novel, "The Heart of Darkness", Apocalypse Now
(1979, with Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall).
Entering 1980s, Hopper helmed and starred, as the alcoholic father
of Linda Manz's character, in intense, improvisational film Out of
the Blue. He then was seen in Reborn (1981), King of the Mountain
(1981), Neil Young: Human Highway (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), The
Osterman Weekend (1983), White Star (1983), My Science Project
(1985), Riders of the Storm (1986), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
(1986) and River's Edge (1986). Moviegoer also remembered him playing
the controversial role of Frank Booth, a nitrous oxide sniffing thug,
in writer-director David Lynch's drama thriller Blue Velvet (1986),
opposite Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini. The role earned
Hopper a nomination at Golden Globe Awards and won him National
Society of Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Awards.
Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination arrived in 1986, thanks to
Hopper’s portrayal of Shooter, an alcoholic basketball fan, in
David Anspaugh's true-story based basketball drama Hoosiers,
alongside Gene Hackman and Barbara Hershey. The next year, Hopper
played roles in Running Out of Luck, Black Widow, Straight to Hell,
O.C. and Stiggs, and The Pick-up Artist. He also returned to the
director’s chair helming the critically acclaimed feature
Colors (1988), starring Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. The detective
drama film, written by Richard Di Lello and Michael Schiffer, is
focused on a police unit trying to control the gangs in East Los
Angeles.
1990 saw Dennis Hopper co-directed (with Alan Smithee) and
costarred as hit man Milo, opposite Jodie Foster, in the noir romance
Catchfire (a.k.a. Backtrack) and the thriller drama The Hot Spot,
which stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly. He
then acted in Sean Penn's feature directorial debut, the drama about
a family in the Midwest, The Indian Runner (starring David Morse and
Viggo Mortensen), and played the title role of a vile Southern bigot
who murders a young black girl in the Showtime movie helmed by
Stephen Gyllenhaal, Paris Trout (with Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris;
based on Peter Dexter's novel), which handed Hopper a nomination for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special at Emmy Awards. He
also had villainous role as mad bomber Howard Payne in Jan de Bont's
hit film Speed (1994, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock),
which won Hopper an MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain. Back on the
director’s chair, Hopper helmed the action comedy Chasers
(1994), which stars Tom Berenger, William McNamara and Erika Eleniak.
After performing in the computer game Hell, Hopper played the
heavy in Kevin Reynolds’ Waterworld (starring Kevin Costner)
and became the subject of the documentary Dennis Hopper: L.A. Blues
(both in 1995). He starred as a middle-aged schoolteacher who lives
on a farm with his dying mother in Bruno Barreto's adaptation of Jim
Harrison's novel, the romantic drama Carried Away (1996, alongside
Amy Irving), played Mickey Wayne in Abel Ferrara's The Blackout
(1997, starring Matthew Modine) and portrayed Frank Slater in Steve
Boyum's comedy feature Meet The Deedles (1998, with Steve Van Wormer
and Paul Walker). Director Ron Howard cast Hopper to play the father
of Matthew McConaughey's title role in the comedy Edtv (1999) before
he appeared in the same year’s films Straight Shooter, Jesus'
Son, The Venice Project, and Bad City Blues.
The new millennium caught Hopper in the television series "24,"
playing the recurring role of Victor Drazen. He was cast in Brian
Koppelman and David Levien's crime comedy Knockaround Guys (2001,
with John Malkovich, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper and Seth Green),
costarred in the sci-fi action TV series "Flatland" (2002)
and costarred with Pavan Grover and Dina Meyer in Thomas J. Wright's
modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" set in the
extreme life of death row, Unspeakable (2002). Hopper starred as
Frank in Steve Balderson's thriller feature Firecracker (2003) before
he portrayed Frank Sinatra in Paul Goldman's biographical drama
comedy The Night We Called It a Day (2003, alongside Melanie
Griffith).
More recently, Hopper gave a broody, menacing performance as the
mysterious character whose winter tenure in the town leads to death
and destruction in writer-director Jevon O'Neill's drama Out of
Season (2004, with Gina Gershon and David Murray) and guest starred
on the NBC show "Las Vegas," as head of the Montecito Hotel
and Casino's sister operation in Louisiana. He teamed with Simon
Baker and John Leguizamo in writer-director George A. Romero's Land
of the Dead, with Tricia Helfer and Alonso Oyarzun in Bennett
Davlin's Mem-o-re, and opposite James Marsden and Giovanni Ribisi in
Robert Moresco's 10th & Wolf (all in 2005).
Hopper is currently starring in the new TV series "E-Ring,"
alongside Benjamin Bratt, Aunjanue Ellis, Kelsey Oldershaw and Kelly
Rutherford. He will star in the upcoming films; writer-director Glen
Stephens' true-story based horror Hoboken Hollow (with Jason
Connery), Jerzy Skolimowski's adaptation of Susan Sontag's novel,
America (alongside Isabelle Huppert) and writer-director Fiona
MacKenzie's drama Alpha Numeric (with Val Kilmer, Christopher Lambert
and Winona Ryder).
Awards:
Santa Monica Film Festival: Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003
San Sebastián International Film Festival: Donostia
Lifetime Achievement Award, 2002
Young Hollywood: Role Model Award, 2001
Taos Talking Picture Festival: Maverick Award, 1999
New York International Independent Film & Video Festival:
Feature Film Award - Best Antagonist Actor, The Blackout, 1998
Razzie Awards: Worst Supporting Actor, Waterworld, 1996
MTV Movie Awards: Best Villain, Speed, 1995
National Society of Film Critics: Best Supporting Actor, Blue
Velvet, 1986
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor, Blue Velvet
and Hoosiers; both films cited, 1986
Venice Film Festival Grand Prize: The Last Movie, 1971
National Society of Film Critics Special: Easy Rider; cited
as director, co-writer and costar, 1969
Cannes Film Festival Best New Director: Easy Rider, 1969
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