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Dennis Hopper, whose unmistakable presence graced the silver screen for five decades in classics like 'Easy Rider' and 'Apocalypse Now,' died on Saturday after a grueling battle with prostate cancer, a friend of the actor told Reuters. The actor was surrounded by family and friends when he died at his home in Venice, California shortly after 8 AM, according to the friend, Alex Hitz. Hopper was 74.
The actor spent most of 2010 embroiled in a divorce from his fifth wife of 14 years, Victoria Duffy-Hopper. A family friend told The Huffington Post in January that Hopper was "delirious and having difficulty speaking." It was more recently reported that Hopper weighed just barely 100 pounds and was too frail to attend chemotherapy treatments or divorce proceedings.
Hopper's work became the stuff of subversive legend -- his role as King Koopa in a 'Super Mario Bros.' feature film that would become the video game movie to skewer all future video game movies; his monologue about Sicilians in 'True Romance'; his wild drug addict in 'Blue Velvet.'
Hopper's role in the hallmark counterculture film 'Easy Rider' sees the movie constantly attached to his name. A Cigar Aficionado magazine profile of Hopper in 2001 called the film "the Peace and Love Generation's version of Homer's 'The Odyssey.'" Hopper co-wrote the film, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in the 1970 Academy Awards. 'Easy Rider' claimed the Best First Work award at Cannes the year before.
"We didn't really think of ourselves as counterculture. We thought we were culture, and they were just on another track," Hopper said in 2008, his voice as instantly recognizable as Christopher Walken or 'Easy Rider' co-star Jack Nicholson.
The Academy nominated Hopper for a Best Supporting Actor role in 1987 for 'Hoosiers'.
Hopper became ill in September, 2009, but continued to work on his cable series, 'Crash,' and other endeavors.
A frail and bandaged Hopper finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 26. "Everything I learned in life I learned from you," he said at the ceremony, referring to Hollywood. "This means so much to me. Thank you very much everyone, and Hollywood."
Hopper's career was nothing if not prolific -- he worked on dozens of films and was an avid participant in documentaries.
Hopper led a free-spirited life, never a stranger to conflict or substances. "I should have been dead ten times over," he told an interview a decade ago. I've thought about that a lot. I believe in miracles. It's an absolute miracle that I'm still around."
"With all the drugs, psychedelics and narcotics I did, I was [really] an alcoholic. Honestly, I only used to do cocaine so I could sober up and drink more. My last five years of drinking was a nightmare. I was drinking a half-gallon of rum with a fifth of rum on the side, in case I ran out, 28 beers a day, and three grams of cocaine just to keep me moving around. And I thought I was doing fine because I wasn't crawling around drunk on the floor."
He quit drinking in the 1980s with the help of a detox clinic, but he continued to use cocaine, and at one time needed to be committed to the psychiatric ward of a Los Angeles hospital. Upon his release, Hopper joined Alcoholics Anonymous and quit drugs altogether.
His sobriety paid off, and his next role was in 'Hoosiers,' which snagged him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
Hopper was an outspoken Republican for most of his life, but surprisingly he said he was praying for Barack Obama's election in 2008.
Dennis Lee Hopper was born in 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. His family moved to San Diego and he began acting on stage. Soon he was signed to Warner Bros., where he appeared 'Rebel' and 'Giant' while still in his teens.
As unpredictable as his career and political views were, Hopper's love life was even more hard to define.
His first wife was Brooke Hayward. They had a daughter, Marin, before Hopper's drug-induced violence led to divorce after eight years. Then, he married Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, but they split up eight days after exchanging vows. A marriage to actress Daria Halprin produced a daughter, Ruthana, and his nuptials to dancer Katherine LaNasa gave him a son, Henry.
He married his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy, who was 32 years his junior, in 1996, and they had a daughter, Galen Grier
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