Dennis Hopper, whose 50-year film career spanned such classics as "Rebel Without a Cause," "Easy Rider," "Apocalypse Now," "Hoosiers," and "Blue Velvet" died Saturday following a battle with prostate cancer. He was 74.The success of "Easy Rider," and the spectacular failure of his next film, "The Last Movie," fit the pattern for the talented but sometimes uncontrollable actor-director. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, and in March 2010, was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
In a more than five-decade acting career that was influenced early on by working with James Dean and studying at the Actors Studio, he made his film debut as one of the high school gang members who menace Dean in the 1955 classic "Rebel Without a Cause."
Hopper went on to appear in more than 115 films, including "Giant," "Cool Hand Luke," "Hang 'Em High," "True Grit," "Apocalypse Now," "The American Friend," "Rumble Fish," "Speed," "True Romance" and "Rivers Edge."
But it's his role as the long-haired, pot-smoking biker Billy opposite Peter Fonda's Wyatt (Captain America) in the hit movie "Easy Rider" that gave Hopper his most enduring claim to fame.
"The impact of 'Easy Rider,' both on the filmmakers and the industry as a whole, was no less than seismic," Peter Biskind wrote in his 1998 book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood."
The film’s success also opened the studio doors to a new generation of long-haired young film brats who would go on to re-energize American cinema in the ’70s. But Hopper will be remembered as much for what he accomplished onscreen as behind the camera. He leaves behind a string of indelible and daring performances.
Hopper was married five times and is survived by four children, including a six-year-old daughter, Galen, born to his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy. He filed for divorce in January from Duffy after 14 years of marriage.
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