Dennis Hopper - an Artistic Tribute with an Australian Focus

Dennis Hopper's passing this week has put him under the spotlight with many tribute articles being written about his amazing career and his wild ways. Nobody can say Hopper didn't live a remarkable life. His talent extended beyond movie acting to directing and further emerged in his photography, painting and sculpture. He will be eternally remembered for his 1969 cult film Easy Rider which he co-wrote with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern. Hopper starred in and directed the film which was made on a shoestring budget of US$350,000. It went on to gross more than $50 million worldwide - an amazing result for its time. Easy Rider won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. This movie also kick-started the career of Jack Nicholson.

The much married (5 times) and divorced (4 times) Dennis Hopper leaves behind three daughters and a son from his various marriages. His youngest child, daughter Galen, is just seven years old. He also had two granddaughters - Violet Goldstone and Ella Brill.

Hopper's career spanned more than 50 years, from the 1955 James Dean classic Rebel Without A Cause to Blue Velvet in 1986, with his final role in the animated film Alpha and Omega, now in post production.

Hopper's marriage history

Brooke Hayward (born 1937), daughter of Leland Hayward and Margaret Sullavan; married 1961 - divorced 1969, 1 child, daughter Marin Hopper (born on June 26, 1962)
Michelle Phillips (born 1944); married 31 October 1970 - divorced 8 November 1970
Daria Halprin (born 1948); married 1972 - divorced 1976, 1 child, daughter Ruthanna Hopper (born circa 1974)
Katherine LaNasa (born 1966); married June 17, 1989 - divorced April 1992, 1 child, son Henry Lee Hopper (born on September 11, 1990)
Victoria Duffy (born 1968); married April 13, 1996 - separated January 12, 2010, 1 child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper (born on March 26, 2003)

Born to be wild - drink and drugs

For much of the 1970s, Hopper turned his back on Hollywood, retreating to New Mexico where drink and drugs took over. For five years, he claimed, his daily intake was 20 to 30 beers, more than two litres of rum and 3g of cocaine. In 2001 he reflected: "I should have been dead 10 times over. It's a miracle that I'm still around."

Hopper's acting career was in decline and it was almost a decade after Easy Rider success and the not so successful 1971 film The Last Movie, before Hopper directed again. He finally returned to directing with Out of the Blue (1980), a Canadian film about a dysfunctional family in which he played the abusive father.

During the 1980s, having made a huge effort to give up drinking, Hopper's acting career had a resurgence. He had a strong supporting part in Coppola's Rumble Fish (1983) and played the deranged drug dealer in River's Edge (1986). But his most unforgettable role, and one of the finest of his career, was that of psychopath Frank Booth in David Lynch's unnerving portrayal of middle America, Blue Velvet (1986). Hopper went on to play an alcoholic baseball player in Hoosiers (1986) a role that earned him an Oscar nomination.

Dennis Hopper was awarded the Star #2,403 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on his birthday this year.

Interviewed in his 60s he ruefully admitted:

"Creatively I should have contributed a lot more. I was a very talented person and I did not fulfill that talent."

Two Australian movies starring Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper made two movies in Australia. He often described filming Mad Dog Morgan as one of his "great life experiences".

In 2003, he also starred as Frank Sinatra The Night We Called It A Day - a movie about the singer's ill-fated 1974 tour of Australia.

Mad Dog Morgan ...

In 1974, Hopper was lured from his New Mexico hideout by director Philippe Mora to play the role of infamous Australian bushranger Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan with Australian actors Jack Thompson and Frank Thring.

Hopper was also in the grip of what Mora calls "method madness". Hopper, in his quest to provide historical authenticity, refused to shower. It was only when make-up artists complained about his lack of personal hygiene that Hopper jumped into the Murray River fully clothed. It is also reported that he was petrified of Thring - whose character wanted to make a tobacco pouch out of Morgan's scrotum. Hopper avoided getting near Thring other than during filming.

Two weeks into filming in the outback, the then young Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil was so disturbed that he went walkabout to ask the kookaburras about this manic movie star.

Mora reported - "We had to get trackers to find Gulpilil, which wasn't ideal, but when he came back, he said the kookaburras told him that Hopper was crazy.

"He was really freaked out," Mora said with a laugh.

Hopper marked the conclusion of filming by riding in costume to Morgan's grave, where he emptied a bottle of rum on the plot and drank a second himself.

Mora asserts that such stories are not the stuff of myth ("they are all true, and more"). He says Hopper should be remembered for what he contributed as an artist.

"At the end of the day, he was a great artist," Mora told The Australian from his home in Los Angeles upon hearing of Hopper's death. "I always think there has been too much emphasis on his substance abuse. Those were the times.

"Lots of people did the same amount of drugs and booze, but they didn't contribute great performances and make great movies."

The Night We Called It A Day ...

Producer Emile Sherman reportedly said he was surprised to discover the cultural icon was very nervous at playing the part of another cultural icon.

"At the beginning he would say - are you sure you want me to do this?" Sherman said. "He'd practice for hours and hours trying to get the movements and the flavor of Frank Sinatra perfect. And he did a fantastic job."

Dennis Hopper, whose own personal history has not exactly been uncontroversial, is remarkable in this film, and expertly portrays Sinatra's multi-faceted and very complex character. Also appearing in this film were Melanie Griffiths and expatriate Australian Portia de Rossi, as well as Aussies Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton and David Field. Frank Sinatra's songs are sung by Australian all-round entertainer Tom Burlinson and expertly mimed by Hopper.

The film delves into Sinatra's controversial 1974 Australian tour. The press were savage with Frank who responded with a quip and one of the media representatives was "spat on". During his sell-out concert, Frank withdrew his statement but issued another insult. This prompted the Unions to give "Cranky Frankie" a hard time for his disrespect towards a female member of the press. Union boss, Bob Hawke (later to become Prime Minister of Australia) was not afraid of "Old Blue Eyes" and 114 Unions black banned Sinatra. He and his entourage were stuck on the top floor of a city hotel without power, water, room service or a phone. Sinatra refused to budge. Promoter Rod Blue was looking down the barrel at bankruptcy, the streets were full of union protesters, the press went into overdrive and Bob Hawke refused to answer his phone.

The 'incident' was serious at the time, but now seems ludicrously funny. The Night They Called It A Day is a combination drama, romance and comedy film made realistic because of Dennis Hopper's outstanding portrayal of Frank Sinatra and the fine actor's ability to almost "become the person".

An Australian tribute to the artistic talents of Dennis Hopper

In November 2009, Dennis Hopper had to cancel a scheduled trip to Melbourne, Australia to oversee the installation of an exhibition entitled Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMA). The show ran from 12 November 2009 closing on 25 April 2010. The exhibition retraces the paradoxes that emerged in an America undergoing cultural, social and political transformation - from pop culture to suburban subculture, from psychedelia to beat poetry, from disillusionment to rebellion. This expansive exhibition encompasses Hopper's own photography and film work as a director and actor, together with his exceptional private collection of contemporary art, including paintings, photographs and sculptures by artists such as Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Jenny Holzer.

RIP Dennis Hopper.

Sources:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hopper

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/hopper-embraced-his-mad-dog-role/story-e6frg6nf-1225873219908

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/dennis-hopper-a-hollywood-rebel-who-was-born-to-be-wild/story-e6frg8n6-1225873199689

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/hoppers-bizarre-birthday-gift_1142957

http://www.impactservices.net.au/movie_list/tnwciad.htm

To view more of my content - CLICK HERE