Andy Griffith

In 1981 Griffith won an Emmy nomination for his role in the TV film Murder In Texas and in 1983 won further acclaim for his role as a homicidal villain in the TV film Murder In Coweta County. One of the top collectors of Modern American art, Hopper's collection is worth millions of dollars. He also starred in many television films such as Strangers In 7A (1972) and Winter Kill (1974). According to the Oracle of Bacon at Virginia (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/) Dennis Hopper has an average Bacon number of 2.679 making him third on the list of most suitable centres of the Hollywood universe. This calculation uses a modification of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. After his show was cancelled in 1968, Griffith had several series that were not successful such as The Headmaster (1970), The New Andy Griffith Show (1971) and Salvage I (1979). He recently contributed to the film 1 Giant Leap with provocative anecdotes on spirituality, unity and culture. Griffith was an inspiration for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Huckleberry Hound, introduced in 1958. He also co-starred in the 1994 blockbuster Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

This film showcased Griffith's powerful talents as a dramatic actor. He was nominated for an Emmy award for the 1991 HBO films Paris Trout and Doublecrossed (in which he played real life drug smuggler and DEA informant Barry Seal). In 1959, Griffith starred in A Face in the Crowd. Again, he played a country boy and entertainer, but this time as a terrifying psychopath who used the rube pose to rise to political power. He has continued to be an important individual in Hollywood both as an actor, photographer and director. By 1954, he was on Broadway, starring in No Time for Sergeants, a play about a country boy in the air force, made into a film in 1959 and considered the direct inspiration for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. In 1988, Hopper directed a critically acclaimed film about Los Angeles gangs called Colors. Later that year, he recorded "Number One Street", telling the story of a rural family travelling to Florida on United States Highway 1. Because I am Frank Booth!" (which raised a question for Lynch "That's great for the movie, but how are we gonna have lunch with him?") Hopper won critical acclaim and a slew of awards for this role and the same year won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Hoosiers.

His first success was a 1953 live recording of "What it was, was football", a story about a country boy at his first football game, delighting in the "big orange drinks" and the boys running up and down the "cow pasture" in "the awfulest fight I most ever saw" and "these purty girls a-wearin' these little-bitty short dresses, and a-dancin' around". After reading the script, Hopper called Lynch and told him "You have to let me play Frank Booth. Griffith started out as a stand-up comedian. However, it was not until he portrayed the oxygen-huffing, obscenity-screaming Frank Booth in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) that his career truly revived. Viewers immediately felt a connection with Taylor, his son "Opie" (Ron Howard), "Aunt Bee" (Frances Bavier), Deputy "Barney Fife" (Don Knotts), "Gomer Pyle" (Jim Nabors), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey) and the entire town of "Mayberry". He gave powerful performances in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983). The Andy Griffith Show, which aired from 1960 to 1968, became an instant hit with its American audience. In the early 1980s, Hopper entered a drug rehabilitation program and cured himself of his addictions.

Griffith is best known as "Sheriff Andy Taylor" in the popular 1960s television series The Andy Griffith Show and in the title role in the 1980s television series Matlock. However, Hopper did act in several films during this period such as Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Tracks (1976), The American Friend (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979) and he won acclaim for directing and acting in Out of the Blue (1980). He was a genuine country boy who made sophisticated humor based on his own background. Hopper had long been an alcoholic and drug abuser and it was at this point his addiction began to dominate his life. Andy Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, writer and producer from Mount Airy, North Carolina. Hopper wrote and directed another film that was released in 1971 called The Last Movie that was a box office failure and derailed his career for years. Hopper won wide acclaim as the director of the film for his improvisational methods and stop action photography.

Although Hopper was able to resume acting in mainstream films including The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969), in both of these films he had death scenes with John Wayne, it was not until he teamed with Peter Fonda and made Easy Rider that he really shook up the Hollywood establishment. This film became an anthem of sorts to the lost generation of the Vietnam war and to this day is one of the most successful independent film ever made. He also was very talented as a painter and a poet. Hopper also became an accomplished professional photographer (he has had many exhibitions of his work). He appeared in over 140 episodes of television shows such as Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, The Defenders, The Big Valley, The Time Tunnel and Combat.

Hopper moved to New York and studied at the famous Lee Strasberg acting school. This infamous incident resulted in him being blacklisted from films for several years. Hopper refused directions for 80 takes over several days. Dean's death in a 1955 car accident affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterwards that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell To Texas.

Hopper was then cast in two roles with James Dean (who he admired immensely) Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Hopper made his acting debut on an episode of the Richard Boone television show Medic in 1955 playing a young epileptic. He was especially fond of the plays of William Shakespeare. Born in Dodge City, Kansas, Hopper was voted most likely to succeed by his high school class and it was there he developed an interest in acting.

Dennis Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an American actor and film-maker.