Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 â€" May 29, 2010) was an American
actor and filmmaker. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first
television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared alongside James
Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and Giant (1956). In the next
ten years he made a name in television, and by the end of the 1960s
had appeared in several films, notably Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Hang
'Em High (1968). Hopper also began a prolific and acclaimed
photography career in the 1960s.Hopper made his directorial film debut
with Easy Rider (1969), which he and co-star Peter Fonda wrote with
Terry Southern. The film earned Hopper a Cannes Film Festival Award
for "Best First Work" and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best
Original Screenplay (shared with Fonda and Southern). Journalist Ann
Hornaday wrote: "With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising
their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy
Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to
freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion". Film critic
Matthew Hays wrote "no other persona better signifies the lost
idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper".Following the
critical and commercial failure of his second film as director, The
Last Movie (1971), he worked on various independent and foreign
projects â€" in which he was frequently typecast as mentally disturbed
outsiders in such films as Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and The American
Friend (1977) â€" until he found new fame for his role as an American
photojournalist in Apocalypse Now (1979). He went on to helm his third
directorial work Out of the Blue (1980), for which he was again
honored at Cannes, and appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman
Weekend (1983). He saw a career resurgence in 1986 when he was widely
acclaimed for his performances in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, the latter
of which saw him nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actor. His fourth directorial outing came about through Colors (1988),
followed by an Emmy-nominated lead performance in Paris Trout (1991).
In 1990, Dennis Hopper directed "The Hot Spot", which was not a
box-office hit. Hopper found greater fame for portraying the villains
of the films Super Mario Bros. (1993), Speed (1994) and Waterworld
(1995).
actor and filmmaker. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first
television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared alongside James
Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and Giant (1956). In the next
ten years he made a name in television, and by the end of the 1960s
had appeared in several films, notably Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Hang
'Em High (1968). Hopper also began a prolific and acclaimed
photography career in the 1960s.Hopper made his directorial film debut
with Easy Rider (1969), which he and co-star Peter Fonda wrote with
Terry Southern. The film earned Hopper a Cannes Film Festival Award
for "Best First Work" and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best
Original Screenplay (shared with Fonda and Southern). Journalist Ann
Hornaday wrote: "With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising
their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy
Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to
freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion". Film critic
Matthew Hays wrote "no other persona better signifies the lost
idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper".Following the
critical and commercial failure of his second film as director, The
Last Movie (1971), he worked on various independent and foreign
projects â€" in which he was frequently typecast as mentally disturbed
outsiders in such films as Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and The American
Friend (1977) â€" until he found new fame for his role as an American
photojournalist in Apocalypse Now (1979). He went on to helm his third
directorial work Out of the Blue (1980), for which he was again
honored at Cannes, and appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman
Weekend (1983). He saw a career resurgence in 1986 when he was widely
acclaimed for his performances in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, the latter
of which saw him nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actor. His fourth directorial outing came about through Colors (1988),
followed by an Emmy-nominated lead performance in Paris Trout (1991).
In 1990, Dennis Hopper directed "The Hot Spot", which was not a
box-office hit. Hopper found greater fame for portraying the villains
of the films Super Mario Bros. (1993), Speed (1994) and Waterworld
(1995).
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