Dennis Hopper Names Two Actors With Unmatched Star Power
The Easy Rider director reveals which Hollywood legends possessed a rare magnetism that could command any room and change the course of cinema forever.
The landscape of American filmmaking owes much to Dennis Hopper, whose groundbreaking work with Easy Rider launched the New Hollywood era and proved that rebellious, independent cinema could captivate mainstream audiences. Throughout his career as an actor, filmmaker, writer, and artist, Hopper pushed boundaries and reimagined classic Hollywood archetypes for modern times.
Given his revolutionary approach to cinema, it makes sense that Hopper drew inspiration from earlier acting legends who possessed what he called "this type of magnetism." He explained his theory of natural charisma using an animal behavior analogy: "I'm going back to sort of the ape theory. There's the apes and they all go, 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh', and they leave the room and none of the female apes follow, but then there's this one ape, that's been sitting over there, gets up and leaves, and all the females and all the males follow them, and that's like, there were three guys, when they were young."
The Rebel Who Died Too Young
James Dean topped Hopper's list of naturally magnetic performers, though as Hopper noted, Dean "was a star only in Hollywood and New York because he never had a picture that was successful until after he was dead." Dean's breakthrough role in Rebel Without a Cause established him as the face of anti-establishment cinema and defined teenage culture throughout the 1950s.
Tragically, Dean's life ended in a fatal car crash at just 24 years old. He never witnessed the success of his final two pictures, East of Eden and Giant, both of which earned him posthumous Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. His brief but powerful career left an indelible mark on American cinema.
The Method Master's Magnetic Presence
Marlon Brando earned Hopper's second spot for his incredible ability to command attention. According to Hopper, Brando "would come into a room" and "half the party would leave with him." Interestingly, Hopper applied similar descriptions to Bob Dylan but noted that Elvis Presley never generated the same magnetic pull.
Like Dean, Brando first gained recognition through anti-establishment roles, particularly in the motorcycle film The Wild One, which directly influenced Easy Rider. However, Brando's foundation lay in theater, where he developed the intense performance style that would define his film career.
From Broadway to Hollywood Glory
Brando's major breakthrough came when his Broadway performance in A Streetcar Named Desire proved so compelling that the entire cast reprised their roles for the film adaptation directed by Elia Kazan. This collaboration continued with On the Waterfront, widely regarded as one of America's finest films, sweeping eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director for Kazan, and Best Actor for Brando.
Both Brando and Kazan developed reputations for being challenging collaborators, which became evident during their work on Apocalypse Now. The tension between them grew so intense that they nearly came to blows, truly embodying Hopper's "apes in the wild" theory of natural dominance and charisma.