The Changing Faces of Dennis Hopper

While Dennis Hopper went through several incarnations over the course of his life, he remained supremely headstrong and talented throughout.

“No other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis hopper.” that’s the view of film critic Matthew hays, and on the face of it, you’d have to agree.

However, looking more closely at the famous actor and director’s career, it’s clear that Hopper went through several metamorphoses, and that hays’ description only fits one of the Hoppers who graced our screens.

Hopper made a name for himself as something of a rebel, thanks in no small part to the film easy rider, which hopper both directed and starred in. a cinematic symbol of the 1960s, the film portrayed counter-culture heroes standing up to the establishment, eschewing a sense of juvenile camaraderie.

Unfortunately, before long, Hopper became another Hollywood one-hit wonder. Spurned by the producers that promised
him stardom, he developed a reputation as something of a hippie director, particularly in the 1960s. But even before that, Hopper had his demons; in 1955, he was hit by the death of James Dean, his mentor. And later in the ‘seventies, his persona lashed out along with the disenfranchised youth of the time, disappointed that the ‘sixties promise of free love and world peace hadn’t come to pass.

He had an infamous, eight-day marriage with Michelle Phillips, his second wife and subsequent relationships didn’t go much better. Known to have indulged in drugs, hopper developed even more of a reputation as a loose cannon, and despite a short upturn when he was cast for the role of the photo- journalist in Apocalypse Now, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that hopper’s lifestyle began to hit home.

After a famous incident in which he was found in the Mexican jungle, hopper vowed to get and stay sober, and he largely did until his death in 2010.

Through it all, though, no-one had doubted hopper’s strength of character, or indeed his enormous reserves of talent.

He was nominated a number of times for an oscar, and he won a Cannes film award for easy rider. He picked up several other accolades during his career, and was always extremely well-respected.

After going sober in the mid-1980s, Hopper went through another transformation— to that of a quirky, respectable actor who could light up almost any scene. He took small roles in everything from small-budget indies to big studio productions. As part of his sobriety, Hopper no longer drank alcohol, but he still enjoyed the odd vice, and he was known particularly for a love of cigars. While many will attest that he had enjoyed a stogie since even his early days in hollywood (and there are pictures to prove it), he seemed most comfortable with a cigar after he had cleaned up his act, as if he had somehow grown into the habit after becoming a little more sophisticated.

More than a decade before his death, hopper went through another reincarnation as his personal life began to settle down. He married Victoria Duffy in 1996, and spent the next 14 years playing another role—that of devoted husband and father. When he died aged 74, his off-screen antics were mentioned, but front-and-centre of everyone’s mind was his on-screen brilliance.