Yesterday, I woke up to the news that Dennis Hopper had passed away at the age of 74 from prostate cancer. I was very saddened at this news, because I had always found him to be a very unique actor and enjoyed many of his performances, from his role as Billy in 'Easy Rider', the evil yet zany Deacon, leader of the Smokers in 'Waterworld', and the maimed, homicidal ex-cop, Howard Payne, in 'Speed'. However, my favorite of all his roles was as King Koopa in the critic panned 'Super Mario Brothers'; I will always see the embattled Koopa chasing Mario and Luigi through the city, trying to kill them and yelling, 'Plumbers!' Even after seeing the movie countless times, it still makes me laugh. Dennis was expert at giving his own interpretation to a character and making you love him regardless of whether he was good or bad.
For all of his life, Dennis was a maverick, a renegade, doing things his way. Terms like 'star', and 'icon' do not do him justice. He was a true original. There is one less light shining in the firmament of Hollywood tonight, and the world is just a bit less colorful for his loss.
In homage to him I have made the quick page memorial you see below. If anyone else was a fan of this talented man and wishes to have it to honor him, please email me at penneyn@gmail.com, and I will send you the zip file. It would be nice to see his memory honored on a thousand pages.
