Fresh Air remembers the iconic screen actor, who starred in such films as Easy Rider, Hoosiers and Apocalypse Now. Hopper sat down with Terry Gross in both 1990 and 1996 to discuss his film career, his battle with drugs and his career as an artist.
Actor Dennis Hopper co-stars in the new film "Carried Away." Hopper plays Joseph Svenden a school teacher who has an affair with a 17 year old female student. The film is based on the Jim Harrison novel "Farmer." Hopper made his feature film debut in "Rebel Without a Cause" in 1955.
Hopper made his film debut in Rebel Without a Cause, and played Frank in Blue Velvet. He directed Easy Rider and the new film The Hot Spot, which stars Don Johnson. Before his recent comeback, he developed a drug problem, which he's since kicked.
Guest film critic Michael Sragow, film critic for The San Francisco Examiner, reviews "Colors," the controversial film about gangs and gang violence in Los Angeles. It stars Robert Duvall and Shawn Penn, and is directed by Dennis Hopper.