| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lemonade kid |
Posted - 29/05/2010 : 21:34:39
Hollywood hellraiser Dennis Hopper dead at 74
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64S1OJ20100529
(Reuters) - Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic "Easy Rider," died on Saturday from complications of prostate cancer, a friend of the actor said. Hopper was 74.
The hard-living screen star died at his home in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Venice at 8:15 a.m. PDT (1515 GMT), surrounded by family and friends, the friend, Alex Hitz, told Reuters.
In a wildly varied career spanning more than 50 years, Hopper appeared alongside his mentor James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" in the 1950s and played maniacs in such films as "Apocalypse Now," "Blue Velvet" and "Speed."
He received two Oscar nominations -- for writing "Easy Rider" (with co-star Peter Fonda and Terry Southern), and for a rare heartwarming turn as an alcoholic high-school basketball coach in the 1986 drama "Hoosiers."
"Easy Rider," regarded is one of the greatest films of American cinema, helped usher in a new era in which the old Hollywood guard was forced to cede power to young filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
The low-budget blockbuster, originally conceived by Fonda, introduced mainstream moviegoers to pot-smoking, cocaine-dealing, long-haired bikers.
"We'd gone through the whole '60s and nobody had made a film about anybody smoking grass without going out and killing a bunch of nurses," Hopper told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. "I wanted 'Easy Rider' to be a time capsule for people about that period."
Hopper and Fonda were joined on screen by a then-unknown Jack Nicholson as an alcoholic lawyer, but it was not a harmonious set. Hopper clashed violently with everyone and Fonda later described him as a "little fascist freak." Their friendship was destroyed.
Hopper fell ill last September. He continued working almost to the very end, both on his cable TV series "Crash" and on a book showcasing his photography. But his final months were also consumed by a bitter divorce battle with his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy.
Indeed, his private life was never dull. His marriages included an eight-day union in 1970 with Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas, who later told Vanity Fair that she was subjected to "excruciating" treatment.
Hopper is survived by four children.
RIP
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Everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my monkey. |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| aloneagain |
Posted - 11/06/2010 : 09:27:16
I spent a lot of time in the Wilshire District and Beverly Hills working in political public relations, et cet. The Luau was a polynesian restaurant on Rodeo Drive in BH. The place was outasite with the best Navy Grogs. We used to dine there in groups every chance we got. The bar was usually populated by Peter Fonda and his pack, we would recognize Fonda and Nick Adams, but not Hopper and Nicholson. This was about 1965-68 before Jack and Dennis became well known. We didn't gawk either....lol. |
| aloneagain |
Posted - 05/06/2010 : 02:00:20
Neil and I were like the fabulous furry freak brothers....but we looked like Mannix, we had to deal with the real world. |
| aloneagain |
Posted - 05/06/2010 : 01:51:13
First noticed Dennis in Easy Rider...my friend Neil and I went up to the Fox Westwood to see it. Blew us AWAY. Then 10 years or later...up pops Dennis as the nutzo correspondant in "Apocolypse"...what a trip. Good bye Dennis, be cool, man. |
| markk |
Posted - 03/06/2010 : 02:46:25
I'll never forget "Blue Velvet", shocking for the times. |
| John9 |
Posted - 01/06/2010 : 21:18:54
This is indeed a sad loss. I last saw him a couple of years ago in Elegy - along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz. Ironically, the theme of that one was mortality and the different choices we have in facing up to it.
Back in 1989 BBC Radio 1 broadcast throughout an entire evening, a superb documentary on the Monterey Festival of twenty-two years before. It concluded with some thoughts from Dennis Hopper about how the whole experience was to become his main inspiration for Easyrider the following year. |
| rocker |
Posted - 01/06/2010 : 17:56:25
A quote from Dennis..."Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and contribute something to the next generation".
I guess he did. He lived life fast, eh? |
| bob f. |
Posted - 30/05/2010 : 07:32:20
sad . last movie I saw him in on TV is "The Glory Stompers", 1967.
Good bad movie, where as a biker, almost every line , he says, "...man...."
he had his own style, a beat-nik reality hipster outsider. when he was onscreen, I was focussed on his character. other times, his acting overshadowed the character. saw an interview today,he said he drank half a gallon of vodka and did 2 grams of coke a day during his wild days. he was an original, and is loved and missed.
...what the world needs now... |
| ALLANAGAIN |
Posted - 30/05/2010 : 00:45:40
Dennis Hoper, a great talent, as actor, film director and just as a human being R.I.P. A sad day. |
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