Trivia of Dennis Hopper

 Trivia of Dennis Hopper (17 May 1936 - 29 May 2010)

*Hopper was voted most likely to succeed at Helix High School, where he was active in the drama club, speech and choir. It was there that he developed an interest in acting, studying at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and the Actors Studio in New York City (he studied with Lee Strasberg for five years). Hopper also struck up a friendship with actor Vincent Price, whose passion for art influenced Hopper's interest in art.In the beginning, he was especially fond of the plays of William Shakespeare.

*Hopper made his debut on film in two roles with James Dean (whom he admired immensely) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Dean's death in a car accident in September 1955 affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterward that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell to Texas (1958). Hopper forced Hathaway to shoot more than 80 takes of a scene over several days before he acquiesced to Hathaway's direction. After filming was finally completed, Hathaway allegedly told Hopper that his career in Hollywood was finished.

*James Dean learned he had an interest in photography when they worked together in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and encouraged him to pursue it as an alternative to just being an actor. Hopper published a book of photos in the late 1980s, including pictures of stars he had known, and thanked Dean. For Hopper, James Dean is the best actor he ever worked with.

*Hopper portrayed a young Napoléon Bonaparte in The Story of Mankind (1957) starred by many famous stars like Ronald Colman,Hedy Lamarr,Vincent Price, Marx Brothers, Virgina Mayo, Agnes Moorehead, and Cesar Romero. The producer Irwin Allen managed to assemble his all-star cast by promising them they would only be filming for one day and that they would get paid $25,000 for doing so.

*In 1961, Hopper played his first lead role in Night Tide, an atmospheric supernatural thriller involving a mermaid in an amusement park. He play as young sailor named Johnny Drake.His sailor suit was slightly darkened so it would read as white on film. During production, Hopper was spotted by military police who threatened to arrest him for wearing a dirty uniform.

*In a December 1994 interview with Charlie Rose, Hopper credited John Wayne with saving his career.As Hopper acknowledged that because of his insolent behavior, he could not find work in Hollywood for many years. Hopper stated that because he was the son-in-law of actress Margaret Sullavan, a friend of John Wayne, Wayne hired Hopper for a role in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), which enabled Hopper to restart his film career.

*One of the most iconic films of the 1960s, “Easy Rider (1969)" propelled Dennis Hopper to stardom. The film, which Hopper co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in, became a cultural phenomenon and defined a generation.During production, Dennis Hopper and his co-star Peter Fonda did not write a full script for the movie, and made most of it up as they went along. They didn't hire a crew, but instead picked up hippies at communes across the country, and used friends and passers-by to hold the cameras, and were drunk and stoned most of the time.