C6
DENNIS HOPPER, 74
‘Easy Rider’ shouted actor’s counterculture message
by Adam Bernstein
Dennis Hopper, 74, an actor and director whose low-budget biker movie “Easy Rider” made an unexpected fortune by explor- ing the late 1960s counterculture and who changed Hollywood by helping open doors to younger di- rectors including Steven Spiel- berg and George Lucas, died May 29 at his home in Venice, Calif. Mr. Hopper, who enjoyed a ca- reer resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s playing alcoholics and compelling psychopaths in films including “Hoosiers,” “Blue Vel- vet” and “Speed,” learned he had prostate cancer last year. “Easy Rider,” released in 1969,
was often called a generational marker, a film set to a pulsating rock soundtrack and filled with hallucinogenic imagery meant to evoke the rebellious youth coun- terculture. As its director, co-star and co-
screenwriter, Mr. Hopper called the film his “state of the union message” about a country on the brink of self-destruction because of the Vietnam War, political as- sassination, prejudice, intoler- ance and greed. He, actor Peter Fonda and writer Terry Southern shared an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. Independently financed, “Easy
Rider” cost less than $500,000 to make and grossed tens of millions of dollars. This success aston- ished executives at many Holly- wood studios, which were losing lots of money after years of mak- ing flops like the musical “Dr. Do- little.” The economic success of the
film “signaled a sea change in Hollywood, causing studio chiefs to embrace the new ‘youth audi- ence’ and offer employment to other young, even untried, film- makers,” said film critic and his- torian Leonard Maltin. “Easy Rider” was credited with helping usher in the “New Holly- wood” of the 1970s with the rise of younger directors including Spielberg, Lucas, Martin Scor- sese, Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich.
Novice director
Mr. Hopper was a first-time di-
rector when he made “Easy Rid- er.” He had started his movie ca- reer with promise, opposite James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) and “Giant” (1956). But his reputation for substance- abuse problems and angering vet- eran directors had caused acting offers from major studios to dry up.
By the mid-1960s, Mr. Hopper was knocking around American International Pictures, a studio specializing in cheaply made films about bikers, drugs and beach parties. He was awakened by a late-night phone call from Fonda, a fellow AIP actor, with the idea for “Easy Rider.” It was not easy to persuade movie exec- utives, even at AIP, to finance a
JACQUES VIVIEN, 85
District maitre d’ and restaurateur, owner of Whiskey-A-Go-Go disco
By Timothy R. Smith
Before Michel Richard’s Cit- ronelle offered French fare and Ristorante Tosca attracted an in- fluential clientele, the Jockey Club, the restaurant of the Fair- fax Hotel on Massachusetts Av- enue NW, had both. Paris-born Jacques Vivien, who died at age 85 on April 17, was the Jockey Club’s elegant maitre d’ during the Kennedy White House years. Among his guests were royals, presidents and movie stars — a tossed salad of fame, fortune and power — but he handled them deftly in a manner that was cultivated, worldly and tactful. On one memorable occasion,
in January 1964, his skills were severely tested and perhaps over- whelmed by the public and me- dia interest that focused on a particular luncheon party. Word had gotten out that the recently widowed, former first lady Jac- queline Kennedy was scheduled to eat lunch at the Jockey Club with actor Marlon Brando, who was still swaggering and beauti- ful. They were joined by Kennedy’s
younger sister Lee Radziwill and one of Brando’s managers. It was a high-profile luncheon, and out- side the restaurant the four were accosted by reporters and pho- tographers. Inside, Mr. Vivien sat the four guests at a corner table and all
PHOTO BY DAVID SEGUI
Jacques Vivien reclines in a hammock at his beach house in Mayo in this undated photo.
was relatively quiet during the meal. Then, while scanning the room from his reservation desk, Mr. Vivien saw a photographer attempting to sneak a photo of the celebrity diners. He lowered the lights, upsetting the camera’s exposure, and asked the photog- rapher to leave. But Mr. Vivien suspected that the photographer was waiting out front for the celebrities. When they were ready to leave, he took the four diners through the kitchen to a back exit, ac- cording to published accounts. When he opened the door, the same photographer leapt from
behind a line of garbage cans. Kennedy reeled back inside, and Mr. Vivien slammed the door. Kennedy decided to wade through the reporters out front with her sister. The same photog- rapher had come around front and took a photo of the sisters emerging — without Brando, who had exited through the kitchen. The Jockey Club benefited from the publicity. The Saturday after the lunch, Mr. Vivien turned away more than 500 would-be guests. Jacques Constant Vivien was born in Paris on March 23, 1925, and trained in the dining rooms of the prestigious Ritz and Cril- lon hotels in Paris. After World War II, he made
his way to Morocco, where he worked at a hotel in the coastal city of Safi. According to Mr. Vivi- en’s family, he came to theUnited States with the assistance of Bea- trice Patton, the widow of Gen. George S. Patton. She had appar- ently been impressed by the young Frenchman’s intelligence and charm and helped him get a visa to the United States. He spent the summer at Bea-
trice Patton’s estate in Massachu- setts, tutoring her in French and working with her horses. He found jobs in restaurants in New York and Florida, before moving to Washington in 1955. After leaving the Jockey Club in the mid-1960s, he opened Whiskey-A-Go-Go, a Georgetown
movie that showed drug-dealing bikers as heroes. “I figure you direct it, I produce
it, we’ll both write it and both star in it, save some money,” Fonda told Mr. Hopper, according to Pe- ter Biskind’s book “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs- and-Rock ’n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.” Fonda brought in his friend Southern, a novelist and experi- enced screenwriter, to shape the script. Fonda and Mr. Hopper found independent investors to bankroll the project, and a major studio, Columbia, then distribut- ed the film. The story was about two small- time drug dealers (played by Mr. Hopper and Fonda) who make a cocaine sale in Mexico and then set off across the country by mo- torcycle to Mardi Gras in New Or- leans. Along the way, they meet hippies, dropouts and bigots. Fonda played Wyatt, nick- named Captain America, and Mr. Hopper was his sidekick Billy; the names were meant to evoke West- ern icons Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid. “Easy Rider” made a star of Jack Nicholson, who played a supporting role as an alcoholic lawyer who joins the bikers. The movie catapulted Mr. Hop- per to the center of the glamorous intersection of art, entertainment and politics that included his friends Bob Dylan, music pro- ducer Phil Spector, and pop art- ists Andy Warhol and Roy Lich- tenstein. But Mr. Hopper’s drug habit and other personal prob- lems made it nearly impossible for him to duplicate the success of “Easy Rider.” His next film, “The Last Movie”
(1971), was a $1 million box-office fiasco. The plot concerned a Hol- lywood film crew trying to shoot a Western in Peru. Mr. Hopper played a stunt man who is cruci- fied by the villagers. Mr. Hopper returned to Los An-
geles with an unwieldy amount of footage that took more than a year to edit. Studio heads were appalled by the result and or- dered Mr. Hopper to rework the film. “The Last Movie” won a top award at the 1971 Venice Film Fes- tival in Italy, but Mr. Hopper found the experience of losing control of his film anguishing.
Committed to psych ward
He retreated to a commune in
New Mexico, where he binged on rum, tequila and cocaine, and fell into a fit of paranoia that led him to shoot off rounds from a ma- chine gun he kept in his house. He took a handful of acting jobs, the best remembered of which was as the drug-addled Vietnam War photographer in Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” (1979), but his career was otherwise stalled. In 1984, he was committed to the psychiatric ward of a Los Angeles hospital after experiencing a vio- lent hallucination. Mr. Hopper described this as the lowest point in his life. He said he stopped hard drugs and
ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES
Hopper was called “the creepiest villain in the movies.” He is pictured here in October.
drinking and decided to channel his “compulsive” personality in other directions, namely work. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role as an alcoholic coach in the basketball drama “Hoosiers” (1986) opposite Gene Hackman and directed the police drama “Colors” (1988), starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. Mostly, Mr. Hopper specialized
in portraying weirdly intense characters, which prompted film critic Roger Ebert to call him the “most dependable and certainly the creepiest villain in the mov- ies.” The actor played a one-legged hermit in “River’s Edge” (1987), a hired killer in the low-budget noir “Red Rock West” (1994) and the mad bomber who threatens Kea- nu Reeves in the popular action
son and Elizabeth Taylor’s son in “Giant.” Then, while filming a western a few years later, Mr. Hopper got into a verbal battle with veteran director Henry Hathaway over how to play a scene. Mr. Hopper spoiled 87 takes on what should have been a simple line reading. Hathaway threatened to drive
Mr. Hopper out of Hollywood, and he largely succeeded, even if the actor did win small parts in “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) and, much to his surprise, Hathaway’s “True Grit” (1969). Mr. Hopper’s marriages to so- cialite Brooke Hayward, actress Daria Halprin and dancer Kath- erine LaNasa ended in divorce. He was also married for eight days to Michelle Phillips of the singing group the Mamas and the Papas. “Seven of those days were pret-
ty good,” he said. “The eighth day was the bad one.” In January, while in cancer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Actor Dennis Hopper, shown in 1971 in Hollywood, was a first-time director with “Easy Rider,” which grossed tens of millions of dollars.
film “Speed” (1994). Mr. Hopper’s eeriest perform- ance was as a gas-sniffing sadist named Frank Booth in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” (1986). “I didn’t have any problem under- standing Frank,” he told Newsday. “He was just your basic middle- class degenerate. I understood that. I’ve been a middle-class de- generate most of my life.”
‘Rebel Without a Cause’
Dennis Lee Hopper was born
May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kan., where his father was a railroad postal worker. He grew up in San Diego, became an apprentice at the La Jolla Playhouse and left for Hollywood with the encourage- ment of film actress Dorothy McGuire, whom he met at the theater. In 1955, he won a pivotal role as
a gang member in “Rebel Without a Cause” opposite Dean, whom he idolized.
“I was a very good technician, but Dean was, like, so loose, creat- ing all these wonderful things,” Mr. Hopper told the Chicago Trib- une in 1990. “So I grabbed him during the ‘Chickie-run’ scene, and threw him into a car, and I said, ‘I thought I was the best, and now I see you, and I know you’re better, and I don’t even know what you’re doing.’ “He said, ‘Well, you have to do things, not show them. You have to take a drink from the glass, not act like you’re drinking. Don’t have any preconceived ideas. Ap- proach something differently ev- ery time.’ That was the beginning of a lot of problems for me with directors.” Mr. Hopper played Rock Hud-
discotheque at the corner of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue. According to a 1979 profile of Mr. Vivien in The Washington Post, the club started a local disco- theque trend. By the early 1970s, he started Maison des Crepes, Georgetown’s first French spe- cialty restaurant. While popular, the restaurant received tepid re- views. Mr. Vivien later opened crêperies in Bethesda and Alex- andria.
By the mid-1980s, he had closed down Maison des Crepes and moved away from Washing- ton, maintaining beachfront homes in Mayo, in Anne Arundel County, and Key West, Fla., where he died of liver failure. David Berkebile, a longtime friend and owner of Georgetown Tobacco, who opened his original store on the same block as Mai- son des Crepes, described Mr. Vivien as a gregarious man who enjoyed the company of women. In 1971, a young woman named Colette Vacher, known as Coco, entered Maison des Crepes. Mr. Vivien was smitten and invited her to his Chesa- peake Bay vacation home the next day. They married in 1979. She lives in Key West and is his only immediate survivor. By all accounts, Mr. Vivien was
an epicurean with simple yet de- fined tastes. He roasted meat over driftwood fires, searing them quickly. Any meat above rare was hopelessly overcooked, in his view. Food was lightly sea- soned and complimented by veg- etables. He enjoyed fishing and cooked perch in lime juice, cev- iche style. He loved sea life so much, he whittled sculptures from driftwood. Mr. Vivien had other specific interests — fancy cars and trop- ical birds — and he was often
treatment, he filed for divorce from his wife of 14 years, actress Victoria Duffy. Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, a daugh- ter from his third marriage, a son from his fourth marriage and a daughter from his fifth marriage. Recently, Mr. Hopper was a star on the TV drama “Crash” on the Starz cable network and a com- mercial pitchman for the invest- ment adviser Ameriprise Finan- cial. He recorded his voice for the company Navtones, which spe- cializes in celebrity voice down- loads for GPS navigation systems. The company’s Web site said his voice “makes every ride easy.” Critics have debated how well “Easy Rider” has aged. Pauline Kael called the film’s dark tone and violent ending one of “senti- mental paranoia” in an era when “it was cool to feel that you couldn’t win, that everything was rigged and hopeless.” Mr. Hopper once told The
Washington Post that Bob Dylan also felt the movie could have been improved. “Dylan didn’t want us to die at the end,” he said. “He was really upset about Wyatt and Billy being killed and sug- gested this outrageous ending. He said, ‘You know the helicopter at the end? Why don’t you have the helicopter swoop back down and shoot those rednecks in the truck?’ Dylan wanted the good guys to win.”
bernsteina@washpost.com
Special correspondent Alexander F. Remington contributed to this report.
on
washingtonpost.com
Successes, troubles of an iconic actor
Movie critic Ann Hornaday discusses the irony of the
man; take a look back at Dennis Hopper in a photo gallery; and watch the opening of “Easy Rider” on our Post Mortem blog.
BERFIELD
FRANK HALE BERFIELD
A retired instructional designer, died in hospice at Bruns House in Alamo on December 2, 2009. At the time of his passing, Frank was 88 years old and a seven-year resident of Rossmoor.
He raised his family of two sons in Mem- phis, Tennessee where he was involved in TV production and public relations. In 1966, the family moved to Bethesda, Mary- land where he was appointed Information Director for Montgomery County (MD) and where he later began a new career as Senior Instructional Designer for the U.S. Senate Computer Center in Washington, DC.
found roaming Washington and Maryland in his Excalibur Road- ster, his scarlet macaw Go Go perched on his shoulder.
smitht@washpost.com
INMEMORIAM
BELL
JOSEPHW. BELL, SR. MARY BELL
JOSEPH BELL, JR.
Happy 103rd Birthday, Dad
1907- 1987 1910- 2004
May God keep you in his blessings.
Bell, Robinson and Speech Families
Happy Belated Birthday, Antoine We love and miss you all,
KITCHING
CLINTON KITCHING (10/28/28 - 5/30/92)
CLOTEAL KITCHING (11/8/29 - 9/26/00)
Nothing can ever take away The love the heart holds dear,
Fond memories linger every day, Remembrance keeps you near.
The Family
LATHROP
VELESTER LENEA LATHROP April 16, 1966 - May 30, 2009
You were the embodiment of God's grace and beauty. Lenea, you will be forever remem- bered, forever loved, forever missed...we will see you again one day! We LoveYou, "Nea"
PALMER
GEORGE W.ROBINSON 1929-1979 ANTOINE J. SPEECH
1930-1997 1976-2003
Frank had degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri (1948), a certificate from La Escuela de Belles Artes in Madrid Spain (1954) where he studied painting, a masters degree from American University (1963) and doctorate from Catholic Univer- sity (1981).
After retirement in 1988, Frank became a volunteer TV director for Montgomery County Community Television where he produced Dance Lesson, a series of eight (8) instructional programs on ballroom dancing. His hobbies included tennis, cycling and ballroom dancing.
He moved to Rossmoor in 2002 and is survived by one son and two grandchil- dren of Piedmont CA. A "celebration of life" was held on December 12, 2009 and an interment service will be held Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland on June 26, 2010.
BLANDFORD
FELICITY ANNE BLANDFORD
Of Alexandria, VA on Thursday, May 27, 2010. She is survived by her husband, Robert Bland- ford and two sisters, Jennifer McDonald and Elizabeth McDonald. Friends may call at The Demaine Funeral Home, 520 S.Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314, where the family will be present on Thursday, June 3, 2010 from 6 until 8 p.m. and where funeral services will be held on Friday, June 4, 2010 at 1 p.m. Interment to follow at The Old Presbyterian Meeting House Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to: Friends of Greenspring Gardens 4603 Green Spring Road,Alexandria,VA 22312.
BOND
A.DEWEY BOND (Age 87)
A. Dewey Bond, of Great Falls, VA died on May 25, 2010. He is survived by his wife, Jean Jensen: daughters, Philinda Collins, Laurel Ellzey, Carolyn Bannister and Sylvia Donovan; and 11 granchildren. A Funeral Service will be held at Great Falls United Methodist Church, 10100 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls, VA 22066 on Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Heifer International or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Arrangements were made by Money and King Funeral Home.
www.moneyandking.com
BRENDEL
LAURA BRENDEL
JAMESA. PALMER
It broke our hearts to lose you.You did not go alone. For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.
We love you,Mom,Sister and Palmer Family
of Alexander, Antonia, Matthew and Jacob. The family will receive friends at the MONEY & KING FUNERAL HOME, 171 W. Maple St., Vienna, VA on Tuesday, June 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 2, 10 a.m. at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, 11900 Lawyers Rd., Reston, VA. Interment will follow at Stonewall Memory Gardens, Manassas, VA. Please view and sign the family guestbook at :
www.moneyandking.com
On Saturday, May 29, 2010 at the Gardens at Fair Oaks. Beloved wife of the late Louis J. Brendel; devoted mother of Richard (Nora) Brendel, Brian (Michelle) Brendel and Bon- nie ( Jack) Stabile; grandmother
Happy 50th Birthday - May 30, 2010
STEPHEN DeLANTÉYOUNG May 30, 1960
We think about you everyday. It's nothing we could do, it was God's way.
Love Mom,Family and Friends.
DEATHNOTICE
ALLEN
D'JENANE BOSWELL ALLEN
Defense Department Employee
D'Jenane Allen, 84, a retired secretary with the United States Air Force, died May 10, 2010 at Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington Hospital. The cause of death were complications resulting from congestive heart failure.
Mrs. Allen spent her entire 36-year career working in the Department of Defense.
D'Jenane Boswell Allen was born in Port-au- Prince, Haiti. She lived in Alexandria, VA for 78 years. She was a 1944 graduate of George Washington High School in Alexandria.
She had been a resident of Manor Care - Arling- ton for the past three years.
Her husband and favorite dance partner, Waitman Triplett Allen, died in 1986.
Survivors include three children, Sharlene Dunn of Raleigh, NC, Mark Allen of Montross, VA and Alyssa Murray of Alexandria; one granddaughter and two great grandchildren.
A private service will be held. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ameri- can Humane Association.
No public service will be held.
BATTLE
JOHNNY J.BATTLE, JR.
Of Belair,MD passed away on Thursday, May 6, 2010. A memorial service will be held on June 8, 2010, 1 p.m. at the Cavalry Chapel, 8465 Simond Street & 6th Armored Cavalry Road, Fort George G.Meade,MD.
S
KLMNO
OBITUARIES
SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010
May 30, 1958 - May 10, 2008
INMEMORIAM
MICHAELA.ROSS
ROSS
Happy Birthday. Not a day goes by that we
do not hold you in our memories, hearts and spirits.Your presence in our lives is always felt and will live forever in our thoughts and hearts.
We LoveYou,Mom;Grandma; Loving Wife, Cynthia; Kids; Family and Friends
SCOTT
5/30/1964 - 3/22/2010
To our Neicey,
MICHELLE D.SCOTT
Sisters and Brother,Aunts, Uncles and All Family and Friends
Byron, Juan and Quentin, Kammari,Taylor and Kaylnn
We all love and miss you.
Happy Birthday
UNDERWOOD
FREDERICK E.UNDERWOOD 12/09
We miss you
The Family
FREDERICK N.UNDERWOOD 7/09 ALVERNA M.UNDERWOOD 3/97
YOUNG
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