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Dennis Hopper Filmography
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Dennis Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an American actor and film-maker.
Born in Dodge City, Kansas, Hopper was voted most likely to succeed by his high school class and it was there he developed an interest in acting. He was especially fond of the plays of William Shakespeare. Hopper made his acting debut on an episode of the Richard Boone television show
Medic in 1955 playing a young epileptic. Hopper was then cast in two roles with
James Dean (who he admired immensely) Rebel Without A Cause
(1955) and Giant (1956).
Dean's death in a 1955 car accident affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterwards that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell To Texas. Hopper refused directions for 80 takes over several days. This infamous incident resulted in him being blacklisted from films for several years.
Hopper moved to New York and studied at the famous Lee Strasberg acting school. He appeared in over 140 episodes of television shows such as Bonanza
, The Twilight Zone
, The Defenders
, The Big Valley
, The Time Tunnel
and Combat. Hopper also became an accomplished professional photographer (he has had many exhibitions of his work). He also was very talented as a painter and a poet.
Although Hopper was able to resume acting in mainstream films including The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969), in both of these films he had death scenes with
John Wayne, it was not until he teamed with
Peter Fonda and made Easy Rider that he really shook up the Hollywood establishment. This film became an anthem of sorts to the lost generation of the Vietnam war and to this day is one of the most successful independent film ever made. Hopper won wide acclaim as the director of the film for his improvisational methods and stop action photography.
Hopper wrote and directed another film that was released in 1971 called The Last Movie that was a box office failure and derailed his career for years. Hopper had long been an alcoholic and drug abuser and it was at this point his addiction began to dominate his life. However, Hopper did act in several films during this period such as Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Tracks
(1976), The American Friend (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979) and he won acclaim for directing and acting in Out of the Blue (1980).
In the early 1980s, Hopper entered a drug rehabilitation program and cured himself of his addictions. He gave powerful performances in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983). However, it was not until he portrayed the oxygen-huffing, obscenity-screaming Frank Booth in
David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) that his career truly revived. After reading the script, Hopper called Lynch and told him "You have to let me play Frank Booth. Because I am Frank Booth!" (which raised a question for Lynch "That's great for the movie, but how are we gonna have lunch with him?") Hopper won critical acclaim and a slew of awards for this role and the same year won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Hoosiers.
In 1988, Hopper directed a critically acclaimed film about Los Angeles gangs called Colors. He has continued to be an important individual in Hollywood both as an actor, photographer and director. He was nominated for an Emmy award for the 1991 HBO films Paris Trout
and Doublecrossed (in which he played real life drug smuggler and DEA informant Barry Seal). He also co-starred in the 1994 blockbuster Speed with
Keanu Reeves and
Sandra Bullock. He recently contributed to the film 1 Giant Leap with provocative anecdotes on spirituality, unity and culture.
According to the
Oracle of Bacon at Virginia Dennis Hopper has an average Bacon number of 2.679 making him third on the list of most suitable centres of the Hollywood universe. This calculation uses a modification of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.
One of the top collectors of Modern American art, Hopper's collection is worth millions of dollars.
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AutosRobotic Navi-Bear as Annoying as It Is Cute
In-car navigation systems with nagging voices have officially gone too far. IXs Research has developed a talking robotic teddy bear that not only gives you directions, it'll tell you when you've had too much to drink.
The prototype navi-bear features an alcohol-detection sensor embedded in its neck. If it catches a whiff of the one you had for the road, it'll ask, "You
haven't been drinking, have you?" Accelerate too hard or brake too quickly and it yells, "Watch out!"
That would be enough to warrant tossing navi-bear straight out the window, but it's got one thing going for it -- not only does it tell you how to get where you're going, it points the way.
According to the U.S. distributor, KumoTek, Teddy Bear Robot incorporates a Fujitsu navigation system that
provides voice guidance. TomTom already offers celebrity voices ranging
from Mr. T ("I pity the fool who don't turn right!") to Dennis Hopper.
But this is the first time anyone's had a teddy bear tell you where to
go. Providing you don't tell it where to go first.
The prototype has six joints in its arms and neck so it can point the way and make gestures while giving you directions and screaming things like "Watch out!" Pat it on the head and it'll tell you where you are. It's even got optical sensors to remind you that it's dark and you should turn on your headlights.
KumoTek says the bear will be available in Japan soon, and the head of iXs Research says the company would like to offer robotic navigation systems "in other shapes and characters."
No word
yet whether any of them will wag a finger in your face when you've had one too many or flip off that driver who cut you off.
Published: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:57:26 GMT - Source: Blog.Wired.Com - Read the articleEntertainmentActor Hopper 'in Crash TV series'
Veteran actor Dennis Hopper will star in Crash - a 13-part US TV adaptation of the Oscar-winning film.
Published: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:49:11 GMT - Source: News.Bbc.Co.Uk - Read the articleAlternativeG-Star Raw Fashion Week Party
On Tuesday, the denim label known for making your ass look good drew the likes of Dennis Hopper, Ryan Adams, and Heather Graham to Gotham Hall
Published: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:15:00 GMT - Source: Villagevoice.Com - Read the article
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