Portrait of Dennis Hopper by Jesse Shadoan.
Dennis Hopper, photographer, actor, and collector, passed away this Saturday at the age of 74 after struggling with prostate cancer. Manohla Dargis in April of this year for the Times said this of Hopper, "Unlike the villains and freaks he has played over the decades — the psycho with the mommy complex in “Blue Velvet,” the mad bomber with the grudge in “Speed” — he has made it through the good, the bad and some spectacularly terrible times. He rode out the golden age of Hollywood by roaring into a new movie era with “Easy Rider.” He hung out with James Dean, played Elizabeth Taylor’s son, acted for Quentin Tarantino. He has been rich and infamous, lost and found, the next big thing, the last man standing."
Whitewall had the pleasure of interviewing Hopper in our Winter 2010 issue, featuring his photographs from the sixties' LA art scene and the Civil Rights movement. He was one of the first people to buy a Warhol and continued to amass a stellar collection of contemporary works. “I’ve always felt out of place,” Hopper told us. “I’ve always felt the actors would prefer me to be to be a painter or a photographer, and the painters and photographers would prefer me to be an actor.”
The last question and answer exchange between contributor Scott Indrisek and Hopper is worth rereading today.
WW: I know you’ve joked before that so much of your written history is a lie — that there are myths that have built up around you over the years. Is there any one myth that you’ve heard that is not true that you wish were actually true?
DH: [Laughs] No. Listen, I’m sure there’s a lot of things that haven’t been told that are a lot more mystifying than the things that have. We can just leave it at that. I’ve been very fortunate to be alive and to be around. It’s been a wonderful adventure. I mean, life is a miracle.
Photo by Jesse Shadoan.
