Daddy Cool - Bidding Adieu To Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper didn't expect to see 30. That he made it to 74 was but one of the actor-auteur's many extraordinary accomplishments...
A version of this piece originally appeared in DVD & Blu-ray Review.
“It’s been intense. I’ve been places in my life most people will never go. Over the years I’ve been accused of being a monster, a bandit, people even said I was possessed. But I’m just Dennis.”
There was nothing ‘just’ about Dennis Hopper. Rampant alcoholism, acute drug addiction, complete mental breakdown - the self-proclaimed ‘king of independent cinema’ weathered any number of natural disasters. But the man whose fragile condition saw him marry Michelle Phillips for less than a week did more than simply survive an excess of excess…
Of all the great actors, few have made more movies than Dennis Lee Hopper. And while his list of dogs is incredibly long, so is his CV of truly important films. From supporting roles in classics like Rebel Without A Cause and Giant to counter-culture auteur, Hopper’s rise was made possible by his impressive tenacity and his fearsome temper. Kicking down doors, threatening to kill his collaborators… it was all in a day’s work for the Easy Rider director.
“Do I have regrets?” pondered Hopper when Review first spoke to him on a rainy day in Sydney in October 2022. “Of course - it wouldn’t be much of a life if you didn’t take risks that didn’t work out. But it’s the things I’ve done in my life I regret, not the things I haven’t. If people don’t approve of what I’ve done, they can go fuck themselves. I live my life as my own - no bullshit.” It’s hard to think of a more fitting motto for the man nicknamed Dennis The Menace.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to As Luck Would Have It to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.