Hopper, Dennis Lee,
1936-2010, American filmmaker and actor, b. Dodge City, Ks. Hopper’s
family relocated several times during his childhood, settling in San Diego
when he was 13 years old. Hopper studied acting there, making his film debut
in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) followed by
Giant (1956), both supporting James Dean, who became a friend/mentor. He
moved to New York in 1959 to study at the Actors Studio. Hopper appeared in a few
films through the end of the ‘60s, when he directed and starred
in Easy Rider (1969), a defining movie of the
‘60s. Its followup, The Last Movie (1970), was a
major disappointment, and Hopper’s career again went into eclipse. He
made a comeback beginning with Apocalypse Now (1979),
playing a manic photo-journalist in Vietnam. Long suffering from addiction
to cocaine, Hopper entered rehab in 1983, returning to prominence portraying
the villains in Blue Velvet (1986) and
Speed (1994). He continued to act in films through his
death. Besides his work as an actor, Hopper established himself as an artist
working as a photographer, painter, and sculptor.
See his Out of the ‘60s (1986), Dennis Hopper:
Photographs, 1961-67 (2009); biography by P.L. Winkler (2011);
interviews, N. Dawson, ed. (2012); study by J. Hoberman (1988).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Film and Television: Biographies
