R.I.P. , Shooter

Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director regarded by many as one of the true "enfant terribles" of Hollywood who has led an amazing cinematic career for more than five decades, Dennis Hopper is the man who said, "I am just a middle-class farm boy from Dodge City and my grandparents were wheat farmers. I thought painting, acting, directing and photography was all part of being an artist. I have made my money that way. And I have had some fun. It's not been a bad life." Dennis Hopper, artist, died today after a long fight with cancer.

Hopper, who was as contraversial as he was contradictory, was never pigeon holed in his acting career. He played all the characters of his generation who lived on the fringe of life, love and, sometimes, reality with such honesty that you would swear that he had lived that way himself. In many ways, he had.

Known as a counter culture icon, Hopper once said, "I've been a Republican since Reagan. I voted for Bush and his father. I don't tell a lot of people, because I live in a city where somebody who voted for Bush is really an outcast...I was the first person in my family to have been Republican. For most of my life, I wasn't on the Left."

His friendships were a who's who of artists in film, stage, TV, painting and photography.

Dennis Hopper died today at the age of 74.