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| Birth Name(s) : Dennis Lee Hopper |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Brooke Hayward (1961-1969) |
| Profession:
N/A |
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Full Dennis Hopper Biography
Dennis Lee Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and film-maker. He is known primarily for playing nervy, slightly-unhinged characters, and is noted for roles in Blue Velvet, 24 and Easy Rider.
Hopper was born in Dodge City, Kansas, the son of Marjorie Mae (née Davis) and Jay Millard Hopper. He grew up on a farm and later moved to San Diego with his family, where his mother worked as a lifeguard instructor and his father was a post office manager. Hopper was educated at Wooster School, Danbury, Connecticut and was voted most likely to succeed by his high school class (Helix High School, La Mesa, California a suburb of San Diego, California). It was there he developed an interest in acting, studying at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California and the Actors Studio in New York City, New York (studied with Lee Strasberg for five years). Hopper struck up a friendship with actor Vincent Price, whose passion for art influenced Hopper's interest in art. He was especially fond of the plays of William Shakespeare.
Hopper made his acting debut on an episode of the Richard Boone television show Medic in 1955 playing a young epileptic. Hopper was then cast in two roles with James Dean (whom he admired immensely) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Dean's death in a 1955 car accident affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterwards that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell To Texas. Hopper refused directions for 80 takes over several days. This infamous incident resulted in his being blacklisted from films for several years.
Hopper had a supporting role as "Babalugats," the bet-taker in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Hopper was able to resume acting in mainstream films including The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969), and in both of these films he had death scenes with John Wayne. During the production of True Grit, he became acquainted Wayne in earnest. Although the screen legend would regularly (and good-naturedly) assail Hopper for his archliberal social and political leanings, a genuine kinship developed between the two men.
In 1971, Hopper released The Last Movie. Expecting an accessible follow-up to Easy Rider, audiences were treated to inscrutable artistic flourishes (the inclusion of "scene missing" cards) and a hazily existentialist plot that verged on the nonlinear and absurd. After finishing first at the Venice Film Festival, the film was dismissed by audiences and critics alike during its first domestic engagement in New York City and never entered national release. During the tulmultuous editing process, Hopper ensconced himself in Taos, New Mexico for nearly a year, publicly cavorting with young women. In between contesting Fonda's rights to the majority of the residual profits from Easy Rider, he married Michelle Phillips in October 1970. Citing spousal abuse and his various addictions, she filed for divorce a week after their wedding. This whirlwind of negative publicity, combined with the failure of The Last Movie, ensured that the former wunderkind became a pariah within the industry, widely regarded as the New Hollywood's first "drug burnout".
In 1988, Hopper directed a critically acclaimed film about Los Angeles gangs called Colors. He has continued to be an important actor, photographer and director. He was nominated for an Emmy award for the 1991 HBO films Paris Trout and Doublecrossed (in which he played real life drug smuggler and DEA informant Barry Seal). He also co-starred in the 1994 blockbuster Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. He recently contributed to the film 1 Giant Leap with provocative anecdotes on spirituality, unity and culture. In 1995 Hopper played the villain "Deacon" in Waterworld.
On the 2005 Gorillaz album Demon Days, Hopper performs the spoken word track "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head." In July 2006, Hopper appeared in the music video for "Smiley Faces" by Gnarls Barkley, portraying faux music historian Milton Pawley.
Despite being famous as an actor and director, Hopper sees himself primarily as an artist, and is an accomplished and much-respected painter, art collector and photographer.
Over the past four years, Hopper has given at least $4,000 to the Republican National Committee In Al Franken's book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, the author recounts a warm, cordial meeting between Hopper and then-Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. |
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