Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas, to Marjorie Mae Davis and Jay Millard Hopper. He had two younger brothers, Marvin and David. After World War II, the family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, where Hopper attended Saturday art classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. At age 13, he moved with his family to San Diego, where his father worked as a post office manager and his mother served as a lifeguard instructor. His father had previously worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II in the China Burma India Theater. At Helix High School, Hopper was active in drama, speech, and choir, and was voted most likely to succeed. He trained as an actor at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and later at the Actors Studio in New York City, where he studied under Lee Strasberg for five years. A friendship with actor Vincent Price during this period shaped Hopper's lasting interest in visual art.

Hopper made his television debut in 1955 in an episode of the Richard Boone series Medic, portraying a young epileptic. That same year he appeared in Rebel Without a Cause alongside James Dean, followed by Giant in 1956. Dean's death in a car accident in September 1955 affected Hopper deeply. A confrontation with director Henry Hathaway during the production of From Hell to Texas (1958), in which Hopper reportedly required more than 80 takes of a single scene, effectively stalled his Hollywood career for several years. He later credited John Wayne with reviving it, as Wayne cast him in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), also directed by Hathaway. Hopper acknowledged that his marriage to Brooke Hayward made him the son-in-law of actress Margaret Sullavan, a friend of Wayne's, which facilitated the casting. In 1961, Hopper appeared on Broadway in Mandingo, marking his sole credited Broadway appearance. That same year he played his first film lead role in Night Tide, a supernatural thriller set in an amusement park.

Over the course of his career, Hopper appeared in more than 140 television episodes across series including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, The Defenders, The Big Valley, and Combat!, among others. He also appeared in the premiere episode of The Rifleman (1958) as Vernon Tippet, a troubled orphan, in an episode written by Sam Peckinpah. His supporting film work during the 1960s included Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Cool Hand Luke (1967), in which he played a character called Babalugats, Hang 'Em High (1968), and True Grit (1969).

In 1968, Hopper collaborated with Peter Fonda, Terry Southern, and Jack Nicholson on Easy Rider, which premiered in July 1969. He and Fonda co-wrote the film with Southern, and Hopper directed it. The production was marked by creative conflicts between Fonda and Hopper, the dissolution of Hopper's marriage to Brooke Hayward, and his escalating drug and alcohol use. Easy Rider earned Hopper a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Debut and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film was also among the first to depict the hippie lifestyle on screen.

Hopper directed The Last Movie in 1971, which won the CIDALC Award at the Venice International Film Festival. His subsequent directorial credits included Out of the Blue (1980), Colors (1988), and The Hot Spot (1990). As an actor, he became frequently cast as mentally disturbed outsiders in films such as Mad Dog Morgan (1976), The American Friend (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979), Rumble Fish (1983), and Blue Velvet (1986). His performance in Hoosiers (1986) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Later film roles included True Romance (1993), Speed (1994), Waterworld (1995), and Elegy (2009). He appeared posthumously in The Other Side of the Wind (2018), a film originally shot in the early 1970s.

On television, Hopper received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in Paris Trout (1991). He also appeared in the HBO film Doublecrossed (1991), the series 24 (2002), the NBC series E-Ring (2005–2006), and the Starz series Crash (2008–2009). Alongside his acting and directing work, Hopper pursued a prolific photography career beginning in the 1960s and was recognized as a visual artist. He received awards from both the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice International Film Festival, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Hopper died on May 29, 2010, at the age of 74.