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Dennis Hopper is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Second Unit Director and Editor American born on 17 may 1936 at Dodge City (USA)

Dennis Hopper

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Birth name Dennis Lee Hopper
Nationality USA
Birth 17 may 1936 at Dodge City (USA)
Death 29 may 2010 (at 74 years) at Venice, Los Angeles (USA)
Awards Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres‎

Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer, and artist. He attended the Actors Studio, making his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in two films with James Dean. In the next ten years he made a name in television, and by the end of the 1960s had appeared in several films. Hopper also began a prolific and acclaimed photography career in the 1960s.

In 1969 Hopper directed and starred in Easy Rider, winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer. 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 notes that, "no other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper."

Hopper was unable to build on his success for several years, until the fame brought by his role as the American Photojournalist in Apocalypse Now (1979). He then appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his acting in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1988 he directed Colors, and in the following years played the eponymous lead character in Paris Trout. He played numerous villains including: Speed (1994), King Koopa in Super Mario Bros. (1993) and in Waterworld (1995). Hopper also played heroes, such as John Canyon in Space Truckers.

Hopper's later work included a leading role in the television series Crash. His last performance was filmed just before his death: The Last Film Festival, originally slated for a 2011 release.

Biography

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Hopper was "one of Hollywood's most notorious drug addicts" for 20 years. He spent much of the 1970s and early 1980s living as an "outcast" in a small town after the success of Easy Rider. Hopper was also "notorious for his troubled relationships with women," including Michelle Phillips, who divorced him after eight days of marriage. Hopper was married five times in total — he was in the process of divorcing Victoria Duffy, his wife of 14 years, at the time of his death — and was survived by:

Brooke Hayward (b. 1937), married 1961 – divorced 1969, 1 child, daughter Marin Hopper (b. 1962)
Michelle Phillips (b. 1944); married 31 October 1970 – divorced 8 November 1970
Daria Halprin (b. 1948); married 1972 – divorced 1976, 1 child, daughter Ruthanna Hopper (b. 1974)
Katherine LaNasa (b. 1966); married June 17, 1989 – divorced April 1992, 1 child, son Henry Lee Hopper (b. 1990)
Victoria Duffy (b. 1968); married April 13, 1996 – separated January 12, 2010, 1 child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper (b. 2003)
Hopper has two granddaughters, Violet Goldstone and Ella Brill.

He was the cousin of Perry Mason co-star William Hopper.

In 1999, Rip Torn filed a defamation lawsuit against Hopper over a story Hopper told on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Hopper claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him during pre-production of the film Easy Rider. According to Hopper, Torn was originally cast in the film but was replaced with Jack Nicholson after the incident. According to Torn's suit, it was actually Hopper who pulled the knife on him. A judge ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was ordered to pay $475,000 in damages. Hopper then appealed but the judge again ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was required to pay another $475,000 in punitive damages.

According to Newsmeat, Hopper donated $2,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2004 and an equal amount in 2005.

Hopper was honored with the rank of commander of France's National Order of Arts and Letters, at a ceremony in Paris.

Hopper supported Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. Hopper confirmed this in an election day appearance on the ABC daytime show The View. He said his reason for not voting Republican was the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Divorce from Victoria Duffy
On January 14, 2010, Hopper filed for divorce from his fifth wife Victoria Duffy. After citing her "outrageous conduct" and stating Duffy was "insane", "inhuman" and "volatile", Hopper was granted a restraining order against her on February 11, 2010, and as a result, she was forbidden to come within 10 feet (3 m) of him or contact him. On March 9, 2010, Duffy refused to move out of the Hopper home, despite the court's order that she do so by March 15.

On March 23, 2010, he filed papers in court alleging Duffy had absconded with $1.5 million of his art, refused his requests to return it, and then had "left town".

On April 5, 2010, a court ruled that Duffy could continue living on Hopper's property, and that he must pay $12,000 per month spousal and child support for their daughter Galen. Hopper did not attend the hearing. On May 12, 2010, a hearing was held before Judge Amy Pellman in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court. Though Hopper died two weeks later, Duffy insisted at the hearing that he was well enough to be deposed. The hearing also dealt with who to designate on Hopper's life insurance policy, which listed his wife as a beneficiary. A very ill Hopper did not appear in court though his estranged wife did – case BD518046. Despite Duffy's bid to be named the sole beneficiary of Hopper's million-dollar policy, the judge ruled against her and limited her claim to one-quarter of the policy. The remaining $750,000 was to go to his estate.

On November 14, 2010, it was revealed that, despite Duffy's earlier assertion in her court papers of February 2010 that Hopper was mentally incompetent, and that his children had rewritten his estate plan in order to leave Duffy and her daughter, Hopper's youngest child Galen, destitute, Galen would in fact receive the proceeds of 40% of his estate.