Dennis Hopper's Real Name: Dennis Lee Hopper

Quick answer: Dennis Hopper's full name was Dennis Lee Hopper. He was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. Dennis Hopper was his real name, and Lee was his middle name. He became a defining face of New Hollywood as the co-star and director of Easy Rider (1969) and later a noted character actor. He died in Los Angeles on May 29, 2010, at 74 (Britannica Kids; Britannica).

Real name and early life

Britannica Kids states, "Dennis Hopper, in full Dennis Lee Hopper," and gives his birth date and birthplace as May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. The Library of Congress files him as "Hopper, Dennis, 1936-2010," and an authority note drawn from a published obituary also records the name Dennis Lee Hopper and the same birth date and city.

When he was a teenager, Britannica Kids says, his family settled in San Diego, California, where he began performing at the Old Globe Theatre. After high school he moved to Los Angeles, signed with Warner Brothers, and quickly landed a significant role in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), opposite Natalie Wood and James Dean. He also appeared with Dean in Giant (1956). He was also in The Story of Mankind (1957). After Warner Brothers dropped him, he moved to New York City to study at the Actors Studio.

Career highlights

Throughout the 1960s he appeared in films of varying quality, from the horror feature Night Tide (1961) to the prison drama Cool Hand Luke (1967), starring Paul Newman. His directorial debut, the motorcycle drama Easy Rider (1969), in which he starred with Peter Fonda, made him a countercultural figure. He, Fonda, and writer Terry Southern received an Academy Award nomination for the film's story and screenplay.

By the mid-1980s, Britannica Kids says, Hopper had engineered a career resurgence. In 1986 he played the sadistic Frank Booth in David Lynch's Blue Velvet and an alcoholic assistant coach in Hoosiers, the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Later film work included the villain in Speed (1994). He also earned an Emmy nomination for the television movie Paris Trout (1991) and appeared on the series 24 and Crash. He was also known for photography, which documented relationships with artists from Jasper Johns to Andy Warhol, and for painting. A major retrospective of his work was staged at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 2001.

Death

Hopper died on May 29, 2010, in Los Angeles, California, at 74.

Name notes for searchers

Dennis was his given first name, Lee his middle name, and Hopper his family surname. He always worked professionally as Dennis Hopper.