Actor (and film-maker, and artist) Dennis Hopper died at home in Venice, California, on 29 May 2010 of complications from metastasized prostate cancer. Born 17 May 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas, he came to prominence with the film Easy Rider (1969), in which he co-starred with Peter Fonda, co-wrote with Fonda and Terry Southern, and directed. The trio shared an Oscar nomination for writing the film. Hopper also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Hoosiers (1986). He was nominated for an Emmy for lead actor in a miniseries for Paris Trout (1991), and for two Golden Globes as supporting actor in 1987 (for Hoosiers and for Blue Velvet). He won an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for Speed (1994), and a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor for Waterworld (1995).
Hopper’s first television acting roles came in 1955, in Cavalcade of America and Medic. His first film role, also in 1955, was a small part in his friend James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause. In 1958, a battle of wills with director Henry Hathaway on the set of From Hell to Texas got him blackballed in Hollywood. He moved to New York, studied with Lee Strasberg, and acted on stage an in many television shows. He returned to Hollywood following his 1961 marriage to Brooke Hayward, who was the daughter of producer and agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullivan. Those contacts brought him back into the good graces of the film powers.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Hopper was almost as well known for his drug use as his acting, but he quit in the 1980s, and at that time started taking on as many acting roles as he could.
His genre roles include: An American Carol (2008), Memory (2006), Hoboken Hollow (2005), Land of the Dead (2005), House of 9 (2005), The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005), The 100 Greatest Scary Moments (2003), Unspeakable (2002), Firestarter 2: Rekindled (2002), all eight episodes of the television series Flatland (2002), The Spreading Ground (2000), Jason and the Argonauts (2000), Michael Angel (2000), Tycus (1998), Space Truckers (1996), Waterworld (1995), Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (1995), Witch Hunt (1994), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Monsters & Maniacs (1988), Running Out of Luck (1987), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), The American Way (1986), My Science Project (1985), Reborn (1981), The Time Tunnel (1966), Queen of Blood (1966), The Twilight Zone episode “He’s Alive” (1963), and Night Tide (1961).
Early in his acting career, Hopper was also known as an artist (painting), poet, and photographer (a volume of his photographs of celebrities was published as 1712 North Crescent Heights). He was also an art collector.
Hopper was married five times. The first four marriages ended in divorce. Hopper filed for divorce from his fifth wife in January. He had one child with each of his four wives other than Michelle Phillips (their marriage lasted nine days in 1970). He is survived by his children and two grandchildren.