Easy Rider Takes His Last Ride

After starring in more than 115 films in a career that spans 5 decades and more. Dennis Hopper died on Saturday at 74 years of age.

He died at his home in Venice of complications from prostate cancer.

It was his role in Easy Rider an iconic film classic made in 1969 that marked the beginning of a long acting career. He starred as Billy a pot smoking biker opposite Peter Fonda’s Wyatt. He also co- wrote, with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern, and directed this Cannes award winning movie.

This performance set the tone for his style of acting for decades to come. A fresh against the grain in your face style that is reflected in every movie he has starred in.

During an era where a large percentage of the population where attending love in’s and experimenting with recreational drug’s yet the mainstream Hollywood film industry where still producing wholesome family films. Hopper and Fonda brought a realism to the screen that some say saved Hollywood from itself.

This iconic movie also introduced us to another rising star called Jack Nicholson who played a drunk small town lawyer. Hopper continued to star in great movies such as Speed, True Romance and of course earlier on the critically acclaimed “Apocalypse Now” directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

All in all the movie world will be a poorer place for the loss of Dennis Hopper 1936-2010