May 30, 2010

Dennis Hopper is Dead at 74

Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic "Easy Rider," died on Saturday from complications of prostate cancer. Hopper was 74.

Growing up in Kansas City, Mo., Dennis Lee Hopper studied painting under artist Thomas Hart Benton, and moved to San Diego with his family when he was 13. Five years later he was in movies, appearing with James Dean in Rebel and, as the son of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor, in Giant.

In Hollywood, a town that provided a lot of competition for shenanigans, he was one of the foremost cokies, alkies, crazies. At a Houston-area art event in the early 1980s, he nearly blew himself up with 17 sticks of dynamite. Given that for a couple of decades he seemed bent on killing himself for pleasure's sake, it's a wonder that Dennis Hopper had such a long success in movies -- more than 50 years -- and so many other pursuits.

Actor, director, noted photographer and art collector died in Venice, Cal., after a long, public battle with prostate cancer.

May 30, 2010 12:27 PM | send page