r/Westerns • u/OlinHollis • 1d ago

Discussion Western Character Actor Appreciation: Dennis Hopper

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I had never even heard of Dennis Hopper until the film Blue Velvet (1986) was released. Since then, I heard about him constantly. And since becoming a Western junkie, I discovered that Hopper had himself quite a little career in that genre.

Speaking of "junkie," Hopper--a native of Dodge City--was known to have had problems with illicit drugs. In general, the man was something of a mess. Thus, some of his Western roles were not much of a stretch. Quite often he played troubled young weaklings and mercurial basket-cases. A classic example was his portrayal of Tom Boyd, the anguished young son of R.G. Armstrong's Hunter Boyd in the under-appreciated classic, From Hell to Texas (1958).

Hopper really didn't make all that many Westerns, but most of the ones he did make were quality. He appared in Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969). He also turned up in one episode of Gunsmoke.

Hopper died of prostate cancer at the age of 74.

Hail! Hail! All hail Dennis Hopper!

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3

u/arrow-mi 16h ago

He was a bat shit crazy prisoner in Hang ‘em High but had the whitest teeth for them days

2

u/OwnCarmacode 20h ago

Nobody mentioned The Last Movie (1971) and Mad Dog Morgan (1976) - those are batshit crazy westerns

3

u/rapscallion1956 22h ago

Dennis could play crazy like……..crazy.

2

u/Minimoogvoyager 1d ago

Always remember him from Easy Rider with Peter Fonda.

1

u/Mulezen1 1d ago

Hooper starred with Bruno Ganz in “The American Friend”. The director Wim Wenders played games with some of his actors. See Hopper slayed across a pool table taking Polaroid after Polaroid selfie what happened to himself in the Yeats since Easy Rider.

3

u/zeppo5 1d ago

“Easy Rider” and “True Grit” in the same year; talk about 180 degrees apart !

4

u/deviousxevious__ 1d ago

Kid Blue with Warren Oates was a great movie, kinda in that Easy Rider-hippie vein

5

u/Automatic_Bat_6742 1d ago

Giant. I don’t see the movie giant here.

3

u/MoonSylver 1d ago

Good pick and an interesting one. I was familiar with him when I was younger by reputation only for such things as Easy Rider (1969) or Apocalypse Now (1979), or later during his career resurgence in things ranging from Blue Velvet (1986) to True Romance (1993), to Speed (1994). So I was quite surprised later on to see him turn up as a western character actor in old TV Westerns!

He has a few memorable ones I can recall, couple of episodes of Cheyenne as a cocky gunfighter or the leader of a gang of outlaws, and one of Wagon Train where he played a crippled stable boy. Just recalled an episode of The Rifleman as well where he played a reluctant gunfigher.

As noted, he didn't make a ton of western movies, but was in some significant ones, and they were foundational to his early career. As for TV he managed to turn up in a fairly surprising number; Cheyenne (2), Sugarfoot (1), Zane Grey Theater (2), The Rifleman (2), The Dakotas (1), Wagon Train (1), Bonanza (1), Gunsmoke (1), The Legend of Jesse James (1), The Guns of Will Sonnett (1), The Big Valley (2) and Wild Times (2).

209 IMDB credits as an actor, which is quite a bit. Of course he would go on to be quite famous and well known as an actor and director, with a well regarded career, of which westerns were an early and important part!

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u/ZebraExtension2706 1d ago

Easy Rider fame great talent