Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

Hollywood lost another of its stars this weekend. Two-time Academy Award nominee Dennis Hopper (“Hoosiers,” “Blue Velvet,” “Speed,” “True Romance”) has passed away after an eight-year battle with prostate cancer — he was 74.

Hopper’s gave a number of iconic performances in his fifty-plus years as an actor. Early in his career he became friends with James Dean, appearing in two of the would-be icon’s films before his tragic car accident. His career took off in the late ’60s with roles in “Cool Hand Luke,” “True Grit” with John Wayne and his own feature, the biker drama “Easy Rider,” which won him, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson critical acclaim.

In the late ’70s and ’80s, other than a role in the war film “Apocalypse Now,” Hopper had some drug-related issues, which came to head in 1983 when he was discovered in wandering the woods of Mexico naked. His body and career began to rehab in 1986 when he landed roles in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and one of the greatest sports movies of all time, “Hoosiers.” In the ’90s, he most notably got to show his villain prowess in 1995’s hit action thriller “Speed.” Oh, and let’s not forget “Super Mario Bros.” where he played King Koopa.

Most recently, I watched Hopper in “True Romance” (review to come eventually), which has him in the film’s most memorable interrogation scene. All I need to say is Quentin Tarantino wrote the script, that’s why kind of a gutsy performance it was from Hopper, the interrogated character.

Hopper was married five times (including once for just a week to actress Michelle Phillips) and is survived by four children, one with each wife except Phillips. He recently filed for divorce from wife Victoria Duffy after an alleged disagreement over his estate. Hopper was born in Dodge City Kansas and lived in Venice, California, where he died.

Source: imdb news