Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper Facts
| Sign | Taurus |
| Born |
May 17, 1936 Dodge City, KS |
| Died |
May 29, 2010 Venice Beach, CA |
| Age | Died at 74 |
| Total Facts | 41 |
James Dean learned he had an interest in photography when they worked together, and encouraged him to pursue it as an alternative to just being an actor. Hopper published a book of photos in the late 1980s, including pictures of stars he had known, and thanked Dean.
1 September 2000 - A Canadian judge dismissed marijuana charges against Hopper stemming from an October 1999 arrest in Calgary.
After his run-in with director Henry Hathaway, was blackballed from major Hollywood feature film roles from 1958 until 1965, during which time he was busy working on television.
Alumni of the Lee Strasberg Institute.
As a youngster in Kansas City, he took classes taught by legendary painter Thomas Hart Benton, who told him: "One day you'll learn to get tight, and paint loose.".
Belongs to the Top 100 collectors of modern art.
Buried in Taos, New Mexico.
Dennis and Victoria Duffy Hopper's first child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper, was born on March 26, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.
Dennis Hopper married Victoria Duffy in Boston, at the Old South Church.
Despite his Republican affiliations, he intentionally parodied Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld while playing the greedy, racist villain, Mr. Kaufman in Land of the Dead (2005). He also endorsed and voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election, and criticized the selection of Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket.
Father of Marin Hopper, born June 26th 1962, with Brooke Hayward.
Father of Ruthanna Hopper with Daria Halprin.
Graduate of Helix High School, La Mesa, California. Class of 1954, which voted him "Most Likely to Succeed".
Had his photography exhibited at Fort Worth, Denver, Wichita, Cochran, and Spileto art museums, as well as the Parco Gallery and in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Kumatomo, Japan.
Has a son, with Katherine LaNasa, named Henry Hopper, born on September 1990.
He thinks that the worst movie that he has ever done was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).
His 1970 marriage to Michelle Phillips lasted just a few days, during his wild and woolly, drug-fueled period. She also appears briefly in The Last Movie (1971), Hopper's almost-disastrously appropriately entitled solo directorial effort, following Easy Rider (1969). At one point in this era, Hopper was arrested after he was found raving, naked. After early success as a child star in theater, his movie career was practically stillborn when Louis B. Mayer banned him from the MGM lot after Hopper responded forcefully, in kind, when the mogul belittled his desire to play Shakespearen roles.
His acting career has taken him all over the world, and to date he has filmed movies in over 22 countries. (May 2007).
His house in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, is a radical architectural statement.
His parents are Jay and Marjorie Hopper. His father died in 1982 and his mother remarried.
His performance as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (1986) is ranked #54 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His personal assistant accused Victoria Duffy of trying to kill Hopper during their legal divorce proceedings in 2010.
Hopper is quoted in the book "Marilyn Beck's Hollywood" (1973) as saying that the Manson Massacre of Sharon Tate and friends was the backlash from a sex and drugs party the week previously, in which a drug dealer was tied up and whipped before a crowd for selling "bad dope" to the residents of 10050 Cielo Drive. As can be seen by Rip Torn's success in prosecuting a defamation suit against Hopper in the 1990s, he is not the most reliable witness to history.
Hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles shortly before Christmas 2009.
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), he says "Boys, boys, boys." when he first meets Leatherface and the Sawyer family. Hopper says the exact same thing when he first meets the heroes in Super Mario Bros. (1993).
In 1999, he, his young son, Henry, and two buddies were in Jamaica, heading to a golf course to play a few holes. As they drove through a small village, a speeding truck barreled head-on into their car. Hopper's friends were badly injured in the crash -- broken legs, head traumas -- but Hopper climbed out of the passenger seat without a scratch. He pulled Henry, then 10 years old, from the backseat, covered in splattered blood, also eerily unhurt. "At that point, I really thought, maybe there is a force looking out for me, because I can't figure out how we survived," Hopper said.
Is portrayed by Jarrod Dean in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV).
Lamenting to an audience Q & A in Sydney that he had "never had any great roles", Hopper nominated Splendor in the Grass (1961) as the one he most wished he'd been given.
Lives in Venice, California.
Member of the US Republican Party.
On 29 October 2009, he revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002.
One of three cast members of the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955) to have died within the first six months of 2010. He was followed in death by castmates Corey Allen and was predeceased by Steffi Sidney.
Provided the narration for the Gorillaz song "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head".
Ranked #87 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Received the 2,403th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 26, 2010.
Reported that Rip Torn has won a $475,000 defamation suit against Hopper. Lawsuit came about after remarks made by Hopper on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) on 31 May 1994. [14 March 1997]
Rushed to a New York City hospital with flu-like symptoms on September 30, 2009.
Thinks that James Dean is the best actor he ever worked with since he met him on the set of Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Was due to appear in the Doctor Who 2007 Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned, guest starring along with Kylie Minogue. However, Hopper was not available for long enough, so the part had to be recast. Clive Swift eventually took on Hopper's intended role, Mr. Copper.
Was in the process of divorcing Victoria Duffy at the time of his death. He filed for divorce in January 2010.
Was laid to rest in Ranchos De Taos, New Mexico on June 2nd 2010. His son, Henry Hopper read from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and the funeral was attended by Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Val Kilmer.