Dennis Hopper dead at 74. Earth now a much-less-strange place.

DENNIS HOPPER, one of the weirdest stars of his generation, is dead at the age of 74. The only shock is that he lived as long as he did, and that he was taken by something as mundane as prostate cancer,  instead of, say, rappeling down Mt. Rushmore, naked, tripping his balls off.

THE NEW YORK TIMES obituary: 

Easy Rider introduced much of its audience, if not Mr. Hopper, to cocaine, and the film’s success accelerated a period of intense drug and alcohol use that Mr. Hopper later said nearly killed him and turned him into a professional pariah.

DAVID LYNCH on Hopper's character in BLUE VELVET:

“It goes back to an American sort of archetype,” says Lynch of the Hopper character. “He’s the guy in town who’s potential trouble for anyone who crosses his path. Everyone has maybe seen this person, or somewhere inside them they know that kind of person.”

THE 16 GREATEST STONER MOVIES OF ALL TIME: 

Easy Rider may be underrated at #5: "With bikes and bud, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda set the table for buddy movies of the future."