WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers

Born: 17th May 1936

Died: 29th May 2010 (aged 74)

Dennis Lee Hopper showed his acting credentials at the age of 13 whilst at High School in California; his family moved there from Kansas where he was born. Art was, probably, his first passion having started attending art classes whilst in Kansas but the pull of the stage was stronger although he continued with his art (in fact he designed the cover for Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep, Mountain High’) and he expanded his interest into photography – publishing his own book of photographs in the 80s. Hopper attended the Actors Studio in New York and made his TV debut before hitting Hollywood in the 1950s, he starred alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant before he started getting a bad reputation as an actor and was effectively blackballed from Hollywood for several years. He got his first starring role in 1961’s fantasy horror Night Tide yet it was his role of Billy in Easy Rider that really found him his place although it also hindered his progression as his drug abuse and unpredictable behaviour side-lined him – at least in Hollywood he did find work playing deranged characters in low budget and European film. In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola cast him as the photojournalist in Apocalypse Now and this seemed to reignite his career but not sort out his life – he entered rehab in 1983. His career hit another resurgence in the 1990s and was continuous until his death.

I would love to know when an actor decides on their ‘career path’, as it were, because Dennis Hopper seems to have made a career out of being the ‘bad guy’ – his top five is full of them! Up first its madman Howard Payne in Speed. Brilliantly portrayed by Hopper, Payne comes across as a man with a grudge but as the film goes on (and Keanu Reeves’ character pisses him off) he gets madder and madder yet maintains a little decorum until the final crescendo. The role of Payne won him an MTV Movie and TV Award for Best Villain. Oh and now look, what have we here another bad guy? That’s right and thank you Mr Hopper, for making me watch what, probably, was one of the biggest flops in cinematic history, Waterworld! Actually, thank you Mr Hopper for lightening this 2hr and 15 minute film! Without his character, Deacon, this film is definitely not worth the watch (in my opinion), he may be the bad guy but sometimes they have the best characteristics – he slightly reminded me of Yondu from the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Hopper does play a bad guy really well – never overplaying it and adding a bit of effervescence to the character. He won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor for the role of Deacon which I think is a bit harsh it’s not his fault the film is what it is; he should have won an award for Best Actor in a Poor Film – if they existed! Oh my God, Dennis Hopper, what are you doing to me? If he had been in Apocalypse Now for longer than the five, possibly ten, minutes that he was I might not have nodded off every now and then (I’d had lunch, it was overcast……….I’m sure I’m not the only person this sort of things happen to!). As a character that is only listed as Photojournalist you’d think they would have very little effect on the film but Hopper’s energy is brilliant – it’s like he’s hyped up on sugar or something; he almost bounces along with his dialogue tumbling frenziedly out of his mouth – he added colour to what was a dark, dreary (it’s a Vietnam war film so what else was there to expect) and very long film.

Although not a stranger to voice work, Alpha and Omega 3D, was Hopper’s first feature length animation and also his last (the film is dedicated to him). He is the voice of Tony the leader of the Eastern Wolves, and you can clearly see him facing off with Danny Glover if this was live action (with people not wolves) he has that menacing tone that makes him a mean old wolf. On the other hand, in Land of the Dead, I wasn’t expecting Dennis Hopper to have the role he did – I was actually hoping for a good guy role but, alas, no. Kaufman is a dick (excuse my language) but he is a complete a**hole. Ruthless, conniving, manipulative – an all-round horrible man really. He looks like there may be a soft side under the skin but we don’t see it. I actually detested his character which in my mind makes Dennis Hopper a very good actor. spoiler alert he has the best ‘death by zombie’ scene that I have ever seen in a zombie film and I’ve seen quite a few

There are so many reasons why Easy Rider is probably one of my favourite parts that Hopper has played. Billy, like Wyatt his motorcycling companion, are both quiet characters their personalities come through their behaviour and facial expressions – now considering that both Dennis and Peter Fonda (Wyatt) co-wrote the screenplay along with Terry Southern it was very generous of them to give more dialogue to the other characters. Some might look at this film as a ‘road movie’ but there is so much more to it; yes we follow two guys on motorbikes travelling across the U.S to get to Mardi Gras with some wonderful shots of the American landscapes but the film itself covers an underlying story that is still relevant today – people do not like others that are unlike themselves and sometimes with dangerous repercussions. It is reported that real marijuana was used for the film and most of the cast spent the whole film stoned (no surprise when you see how much is smoked during the film) which doesn’t take away from any of the performances but does explain why no-one seems to take the, shall we say, ‘high’ scenes over the top.

There is one other film that I would like to give a nod to and that is the sci-fi adventure film Space Truckers. It’s a whimsical piece of cinema that takes a story that’s probably been done before but not set it in space. Hopper plays our hero Space Trucker John Canyon (hurray a hero for once!) in a performance which is probably B-movie territory – if you’ve got a spare 90 minutes and you fancying watching a film that doesn’t take much thinking about then seek this one out.

Not only was Dennis Hopper an award winning film actor and director but he had also starred in several TV series. He was a photographer, artist and collector – he was of the first to own Warhols’ Campbell’s Soup can painting. He had several short-lived marriages (the shortest being eight days) and had four children – one of which has inherited his love of the arts becoming an author and artist in her own right. His youngest child was only seven when he died of prostate cancer. He attended the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame two months before he died.