Thinking of DENNIS HOPPER

26 March 10 : THINKING OF DENNIS HOPPER

Dennis has stopped his chemotherapy.

Today we need to honor this amazing American talent, for today he will receive his star on the walk of fame, and it may be the last time we see him in public.

Dennis was born in Kansas in 1936 and has been acting since 1955, a few of his many major films include “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Rumblefish,” “The Osterman Weekend,” Frank in my personal favorite “Blue Velvet” (for which he should have been given an Academy Award), “Apocalypse Now,” and “Hoosiers,” for which he did receive a nomination. I personally think he is one of the great character actors of all time.

He is a multi-talented artist as a painter, photographer and sculptor, known for his abstract expressionism. There are only a handful of actors that we could look at, listen to them speak for a moment and say “okay, this person is a genius, an incredibly interesting talent.” Dennis Hopper is one such person. He’s on my ‘dinner list’ of people I’d love to have dinner and sadly it will never happen.

He’s sick. He’s stopped his treatment. He’s on his final ride. But let’s take a minute to remember one of his best rides of all time: “Easy Rider.” If you’ve never seen it and consider yourself cool at all, you’ve got some homework. IT garnered his first Academy nomination as co-writer with Peter Fonda, he also directed it (as well as the amazing “Colors”). It was maybe one of the first films to properly capitalize on the hippy counterculture, to show the effects of acid. With Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and a group of wild hippies, he redefined the ideology of what it is to be free and what it is to be American.

It’s amazing how time passes and now one of the fiery youth is an elder who, I hope, will walk his final days in peace and little pain. When it’s said that Hopper is one of a kind, it’s an understatement. They rarely make an actor with such intelligence, insight and real skill in his craft. I feel like I know Dennis a little better through watching his performances. This is truly the mark of a skilled artist.

Let’s give some healing thoughts to the great Dennis Hopper and wish him a long remainder of a live fabulously lived, a talent wonderfully shared, and a man worthy of mention as one of the finest American actors of all time.

c2010 P DeCirce