Dennis Hopper lost his battle with prostate cancer early Saturday. He died in his Venice, California home surrounded by family and friends. He was 74 years old. Hopper had announced his cancer battle last fall, after making a few public appearances in which his weight loss and ill health was evident. He had a television, stage and film career that spanned nearly 50 years, and he has more than 200 credits on his IMDB page. He worked with everyone, knew everyone, drank with everyone, did drugs with everyone, and probably slept with everyone too. He knew and worked with Marlon Brando, James Dean, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Sean Penn (who named his son after his friend) and many, many more. In addition to his career as a writer, director and actor, he was also a painter and photographer, and one of the world’s great art collectors (along with his friend Jack Nicholson).

Hopper first became a household name by starring, co-writing and directing 1969’s Easy Rider. During that time – and for decades after – Hopper struggled with alcohol and drugs, and his career was often hit or miss. He gave iconic performances in Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, Hoosiers, True Romance, Speed and 24. The last two decades were Hopper’s most prolific time as an actor, and he worked non-stop. It was perhaps because he found a niche as a character actor, a supporting player rather than as a leading man. He never won an Oscar (although he was nominated twice), but he was widely regarded as one of the most iconic and recognizable actors to come out of the 1960s.

Since the beginning of the year, Hopper has gotten a lot of press in the tabloids, and much of it was probably unwelcome for him. While struggling with cancer, he decided (some say the decision was made for him by his daughter) to divorce his current wife. Stories even appeared about how abusive he was towards her, and how possibly abusive his daughter was to him. We don’t know what was really happening there, and as far as I know, Hopper was still married to Victoria, although he had probably changed his will.

All in all, no matter what he was like in his personal life, Hollywood is mourning an icon today. I just happened to be reading about him last night – a publisher sent us an advanced copy of Hollywood Hellraisers: the Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson by a British journalist Robert Sellers. So far, I’m still in the 1970s, but there are some fascinating details about all of the men so far. One of my favorite stories involved Michelle Phillips, and how in the short span of something like five years, she married and divorced Hopper (first), then dated Jack Nicholson (second) and Warren Beatty (third). All three men got serious about her and Jack and Warren even considered marrying her – and both Jack and Warren checked with Dennis before they began their affairs with her.

In any case, Hopper’s death was expected but still sad. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his extended family and friends.

Header: Hopper’s last public outing, in March, to receive his star on the Walk of Fame. Credit: PCNphotos.com.

A few months ago, a rash of stories about Dennis Hopper began coming out. Apparently, Dennis was not only on his deathbed, but he had had enough with his fifth wife Victoria, and had filed for divorce and ordered Victoria out of the house. Then we heard about how it might have been Dennis’s adult daughter probably instigated the whole thing because she wants more access to her dad’s estate. And now TMZ is reporting that Dennis doesn’t actually have much of an “estate” left – he’s broke! Yikes.

Dennis Hopper is extremely ill from his battle with cancer — he weighs a little over 100 pounds and is nearly broke, according to new court documents obtained by TMZ.

Attorney Joe Mannis in Hopper’s mega-divorce case, paints a grim picture of Hopper’s life. One of his doctors submitted a declaration, stating, “It is doubtful that Mr. Hopper will ever recover sufficiently to be subject to a deposition.”

Hopper says in the legal docs he is willing to pay estranged wife Victoria $5,000 a month in spousal support, and that’s all he can afford. Hopper’s CPA says Dennis’ liquid assets total $300,280 … plus another $10,900 in Hopper’s corporations.

The CPA says in recent years, “Hopper has basically lived on income derived from new acting services.” Because of his cancer, Hopper can’t work, and in 2009 he earned $57,000 in residuals. Mannis says that’s what Hopper will pull in this year as well.

Victoria has alleged Dennis is loaded because of art he has created and sold. Dennis counters in legal docs that in the last 9 years he’s sold art to the tune of $1,895,000, but his expenses to create and store the art totaled $1,850,000 — so he’s saying the net profit for 9 years is a measly $45,000.

According to the docs, Dennis has been living off a $450,000 line of credit, but there is “no further borrowing possible.”

[From TMZ]

Um… where are all of Dennis’s big Hollywood friends? Seriously, I would expect Jack Nicholson or Sean Penn to get his back and help him out financially, legally and whatever else he needs. Of course, I do have another theory: maybe Dennis’s daughter is restricting access to her dad, not just for Dennis’s estranged wife, but for everyone. In any case, it’s a sad situation, even if Dennis was once a son of a bitch.

Less than two weeks ago, Dennis Hopper filed for divorce from his wife of 14 years, Victoria. Then all hell broke loose, mainly because it’s generally established that Dennis Hopper is on his deathbed, and will not be alive for very much longer, and is likely heavily medicated. So how, perchance, did he decide to file for divorce? One theory is that his oldest daughter basically forced her father into the lawyer’s office and made him file the papers.

Anyway, Victoria filed a petition in response to the divorce filing. The peition was obtained by The Daily Beast, amongst other media outlets, and Victoria is alleging some pretty serious stuff about Hopper. Allegedly, Hopper used to keep loaded guns around the house (he and Victoria have a six-year-old daughter), and Hopper used to threaten to kill Victoria. Oh, yes. This sh-t it going to get even nastier:

“In 2009,” the declaration reads, “I discovered a pistol with multiple rounds of ammunition in Petitioner’s bedroom drawer. The gun and ammunition was unsecure and easily accessible, including to Galen [Victoria and Dennis' six year old daughter]. I also located a loaded shotgun, unsecure, in our bedroom closet. I told Petitioner to remove the guns from our home. Petitioner agreed. I immediately moved the guns to a secure temporary location and later had them removed by a police officer.”

This followed another incident in which she claims Hopper told her that if she divorced him, “Something bad is going to happen to you and you won’t see it coming.”

In addition to the threats, Victoria claims that the whole marriage dissolution is not Hopper’s desire at all, but rather “a result of estate planning by other family members” who presumably want her cut off financially. Hopper, she says, told her “he does not want to divorce” and “that other people are insisting he take care of them upon his death.”

Victoria calls out one of these family members specifically several times in the document: Hopper’s 47-year-old daughter, Marin, who has been living in a wing of her father’s Venice compound for more than two years.

Financially, Victoria claims she needs Hopper’s support. “While I have attempted to work at various careers throughout our marriage, Petitioner has discouraged and prevented me from doing so.” She says she signed their jointly filed 2008 tax return and that their total income was stated as over $1.2 million, and that Hopper has a $1 million life insurance policy. She wants the court to order that she and Galen be named as equal beneficiaries of that policy. “Based on Petitioner’s statements to me that he will leave me destitute and because I do not have a steady or significant source of income, I fear I will be unable to financially provide for our six year old daughter and myself.”

She also charges that Hopper is a habitual pot smoker and got high in front of their child.

“Petitioner has in recent months used marijuana in Galen’s presence. I request the Court order Petitioner to refrain from use of marijuana and any nonprescription drugs 12 hours before and during any time he spends with Galen.”

[The filing also says] that as his illness worsened, the marriage began to fray, in part because he became so cruel to his wife. “Dennis has misdirected all his rage and fear onto Victoria,” is how one close friend of the couple puts it. Says another: “He’s angry about his health and he’s taking it out on her.”

[From The Daily Beast]

The Daily Beast piece goes on to insinuate that Victoria may have had an affair while she was working on Obama’s campaign in 2008, describing “a man whom Victoria grew close to during the election…who listened to her and was encouraging of her having a career.” Hmm… well, I’m prepared to believe that Hopper is a son of a bitch, and that he likes guns, and that he’s violent, and that he uses money to control people. But that still doesn’t answer all of the questions I have about Dennis and Victoria’s marriage, or about this family in general.

Oh, and who is really surprised that Hopper smokes pot? It would shock me more if he had spent the last decade not inhaling substances.

Last week, we heard about how Dennis Hopper, who is reportedly “on his deathbed”, filed from divorce from his wife of 14 years, Victoria. Victoria is his fourth wife, and they have a six-year-old daughter together, daughter Galen. Hopper also has three other adult children, including his oldest daughter Marin, who is 47 years old, and a single mother. Marin and her kid live in Hopper’s Venice home and Marin used to work for her dad, booking Hopper’s appearances. Apparently, according to “sources”, it is Marin who instigated the divorce filing against Victoria, her stepmother. Hopper – who reportedly only has “weeks” to live – was driven to the divorce lawyers and had him sign documents even though he “has no idea what is going on.” So… yeah. At this point, the whole thing is looking like a huge fight over money.

As Dennis Hopper is dying from cancer, a family confidant tells Huffington Post his eldest daughter Marin is engineering a divorce and sending lies out to the media to try and bleed extra millions out of his sizable estate. Hopper, who has weeks to live, is currently heavily medicated at his Venice compound. Despite reports, the friend says he is not at the hospital.

Last Thursday the actor filed from divorce from his wife of 14 years Victoria, the mother of his six-year-old daughter Galen. He has three older children.

“It’s so horrible, Dennis is at home, Victoria and Galen are living there as well, and Marin is pulling her father out of his bed and driving him to the divorce lawyers. The poor guy has no idea what is going on,” a friend of the couple has told Huffington Post. “Even his lawyers are telling people he is on painkillers and is essentially sleeping all the time.”

He filed the divorce papers even though his lawyers would not let him sign other paperwork at the same time, telling one family member that he was in an altered mental state due to the copious amounts of drugs he is taking.

He is reportedly delirious and having difficulty speaking.

Marin, who lives rent-free at her dad’s Venice compound with her child, makes a living booking appearances for her father.

One family friend told Huffington Post that Hopper delayed the start his chemo last fall so he could fulfill a paid gig Marin set up in Europe.

Friends believe that given his condition, Marin is the one behind recent statements that have gone out in the actor’s name. Dennis has not been seen in public for weeks and is not up to taking calls.

There are also a number of false claims regarding the estate plan that is in place.

“Victoria gets 25% of the estate unless Marin can push through this last minute divorce. Victoria has never asked for more and has no plans to contest the will. However, if the divorce is finalized, Victoria and Galen [get] nothing.”

Apparently the marriage rapidly deteriorated in recent months. Dennis changed his will last summer, right around his last cancer diagnosis, and started exhibiting “increasing signs of erratic behavior.”

The family friend continues, “Multiple police reports were filed. Dennis denied therapy to Galen and threatened to kill Victoria if she took their daughter to a therapist,” and “three unlocked guns with safeties house were found in the house and turned over to police.”

“Marin has always hated Victoria,” the family friend explained to Huffington Post. “If she can get her father to reject Victoria on his deathbed, and get more money in the process, she’ll be the happiest woman in Los Angeles.”

[From The Huffington Post]

This is so sad. I get that with a family of this fame and fortune, there are usually going to be fights over the estate, but for goodness sake! They’re literally fighting over his dying body. As some commenters pointed out in the previous thread, Hopper has a reputation as quite the Hollywood son of a bitch, but even I don’t think he deserves all of this. It’s tragic, and it’s strange that everyone is letting Marin run everything. Here’s my question – when Hopper realized how little time he had, did he sign over power of attorney to anyone? I really don’t think marin has power of attorney, or she wouldn’t have to drag her dying father to the divorce lawyers, right?

Marin is the woman on the left, Victoria is the one on the right:

For several weeks, the National Enquirer has been running stories about Dennis Hopper, age 73, being on his “deathbed”. I didn’t really think anything of it, because quite honestly, the Enquirer puts people on death watch far too often and they are wrong far too often to take them seriously. However, I was wrong – it looks like Dennis is very sick, and most likely dying. The Huffington Post is reporting it now, although they’re just going with unverified rumors and “reports”. But, it looks like Dennis Hopper doesn’t want to spend his last days with one person in particular – his wife Victoria. Dennis filed for divorce from Victoria, his fifth wife, yesterday. There are mixed signals about what this divorce filing is all about – is Dennis Hopper “mentally incapacitated” or is this all about the money?

Dennis Hopper, who is reportedly facing his ‘final days surrounded by family and friends,’ filed for divorce yesterday from his wife of 14 years, Victoria Hopper, the mother of their six-year-old daughter Galen.

Victoria is wife number five, but this marriage has far outlasted the previous four, which included the 8-day marriage to Michelle Phillips. He and Victoria have been together for 18 years. So what happened?

Adding to the confusion, a family friend told Huffington Post that Hopper is mentally incapacitated from the enormous amounts of medication he is on given his state.

A long time friend of the couple said, “It’s truly a tragedy, and sadly its all about the money and who inherits what. This is about getting Victoria out of the will, nothing more, nothing less.”

Hopper has three grown children, Marin, Henry and Ruthiana, although he reportedly has not spoken with Ruthiana in recent years. Both Marin, her daughter and Henry have lived for years in the same Venice, California compound as Dennis, Victoria and Galen and continue to do so at this juncture.

[From The Huffington Post]

Um… if he wanted his wife out of the will, wouldn’t it just be easier to rewrite your will, rather than filing for divorce on your deathbed? I guess there could be inheritance laws and some complicated legal issues at play, but I think those legal issues will only get worse after Hopper’s death when Victoria’s lawyers bring up the whole “mentally incapacitated” thing.

Since we’re now going with the Enquirer’s reporting as reasonably accurate, I was wondering just why Hopper seems to have gone downhill so fast. The Enquirer reports that Hopper “was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September, and the disease has metastasized to his bones” and that he “has come to grips with the fact that the end is likely near.” They also claim that even with experimental treatments, Hopper’s condition worsened, and he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sometimes before Christmas. He is currently missing work on the television series Crash, but Hopper did complete the compilation of his photographic work, which he considers his “legacy.” So sad.

Dennis Hopper in New York on October 5, 2009, and with his fifth wife Victoria at the 2009 Oscars on February 22. Credit for all: WENN.