Here's Why Dennis Hopper Was The Perfect Actor To Play "Crazy" Roles

Dennis Hopper was one of the biggest stars of the 70s and 80s. The actor starred in Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, and Hoosiers and was often typecast as a mentally unstable, paranoid man. But considering his life story, Hopper’s notoriously paranoid and freaked-out style and personality make perfect sense.

Dennis Hopper’s Spy Father

Born and raised in Kansas, Hopper moved to San Diego where he began acting in local theaters before moving to New York to study at the Actors Studio. But as a child, Hopper had an experience that made him question his whole existence.

Some days you read something like, “How the fuck did I not know this?” Finding out Dennis Hopper’s dad was literally a spy who successfully faked his own death is one of those days. pic.twitter.com/J9j7O8hQS0

— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) May 8, 2020

In World War II, Hopper’s father was a spy. His work was so secretive that his family even believed that he had been killed until the day after the war ended when he showed up and explained that the government had faked his death.

When Dennis Hopper was 5 he was told that his father, Jay, died during basic training at the beginning of WW2. Several years later, Jay returned home and it turned out the government faked his death and he was a spy fighting communist forces in Asia. pic.twitter.com/hQxOxIGHID

— Matt Akers (@mattakersmusic) June 6, 2022

Naturally, this would have an immense effect on Hopper. Imagine being told that your father was dead, only for him to return.

Dennis Hopper’s Infamous Paranoia And Drug Use

Hopper was one of the last of an era when actors were rough-around-the-edges outcasts who lived life on their own terms without caring about the spotlight.

Toward the end of his life, Hopper’s Venice Beach estate resembled a place straight out of one of his movies.

via the LA Times:

“He was divorcing his fifth wife after 18 years together, obtaining an “emergency restraining order” to keep her at a 10-foot distance. They battled over his valuable artworks. She also filed complaints about him keeping marijuana joints throughout his compound, ready to provide quick relief from pain, and loaded guns in strategic locations, ready to provide quick resolutions.”

Have joints and guns scattered throughout your compound while you’re on your deathbed and divorcing your fifth wife? Hopper was always his own man.

The Speed star was notorious in Hollywood for his drug use even at a time when everyone in Hollywood was on something. Hopper hated the spotlight so much that he spent over a decade hiding away in Taos, New Mexico, far from the bright lights of Hollywood.

Dennis Hopper And Art

Hopper built his minimalist compound comprised of four different buildings as a place to live and to display his massive art collection.

Photo of Dennis Hopper’s corrugated steel house in Venice, California, taken in 2009. @BrutalHouse pic.twitter.com/RaM8BTLHFm

— Mark Giffin (@markgiffin) September 30, 2020

Hopper was an artist himself and considered a highly skilled photographer, with some of his work residing in museums.

A photograph known as “Double Standard,” captured by Dennis Hopper in the early 1960s, resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and, as visual distillations of L.A. go, it’s one of the greats. https://t.co/ZzmRjzj9WS

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) June 8, 2022