Via The Telegraph: [emphasis added]
Against Hollywood typecasting, [Hopper] was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Republican Party. “I’ve been a Republican since Reagan,” he once said in an interview. “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.”
Let us all now pause for Patrick Goldstein to scurry up an article trashing Hopper as an untalented whiner. It’s also worth mentioning that Hopper wasn’t quiet at all when he chose to support President Obama in 2008.
Here’s something else you might not have read about Hopper. Many of his obituaries include a colorful anecdote about an angry John Wayne chasing him around the set of “True Grit” with a loaded gun. But did you know Hopper credited Wayne with saving his career?
Via Wikipedia by way of a 1994 interview with Charlie Rose:
In a December 1994 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Hopper credited John Wayne with saving his career, as Hopper acknowledged that because of his insolent behavior, he could not find work in Hollywood for seven years. Hopper stated that because he was the then son-in-law of actress Margaret Sullavan, a friend of John Wayne, Wayne hired Hopper for a role in The Sons of Katie Elder. This role enabled Hopper to begin making movies again.[8]
Hopper had a supporting role as “Babalugats,” the bet-taker in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Hopper acted in mainstream films including The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969). Both of these films starred John Wayne, and in both Hopper’s character is killed. During the production of True Grit, he became well acquainted with Wayne.
Tuesday, June 8th,the irreplaceable Turner Classic Movies pays tribute to the irreplaceable Dennis Hopper with five films. Don’t miss “Easy Rider.” It will blow your liberty-loving mind,uhm, man.