Dennis Hopper, whose portrayals of drug-addled, often deranged misfits in the landmark films “Easy Rider,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Blue Velvet” drew on his early out-of-control experiences as part of a new generation of Hollywood rebel, died at his home in Venice, Calif., on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. He was 74.

The death was announced by Alex Hitz, a family friend, according to The A.P. A cause of death was not immediately given, but Mr. Hopper was recently being treated for prostate cancer.

Mr. Hopper, who said he stopped drinking and using drugs in the mid-1980s, followed that change with a tireless phase of his career in which he claimed to have turned down no parts. His credits include at least six films released in 2008 and at least 25 over the past 10 years.

Most recently, Mr. Hopper starred in the television series “Crash,” an adaptation of the Oscar-winning film of the same title. Produced for the Starz cable channel, the show had Mr. Hopper portraying a music producer unhinged by years of drug use. During a promotional tour last fall for that series, he fell ill; shortly thereafter, he began a new round of treatments for prostate cancer, which he said was first diagnosed a decade ago.

Inverting a famous line of dialogue spoken by Peter Fonda in “Easy Rider,” Manohla Dargis wrote of Mr. Hopper in The New York Times:

Dennis Hopper — actor, filmmaker, photographer, art collector, world-class burnout, first-rate survivor — never blew it. Unlike the villains and freaks he has played over the decades — the psycho with the mommy complex in “Blue Velvet,” the mad bomber with the grudge in “Speed” — he has made it through the good, the bad and some spectacularly terrible times. He rode out the golden age of Hollywood by roaring into a new movie era with “Easy Rider.” He hung out with James Dean, played Elizabeth Taylor’s son, acted for Quentin Tarantino. He has been rich and infamous, lost and found, the next big thing, the last man standing.

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When diminutive comedic actor Gary Coleman died on Friday after a brain hemorrhage, pop culture fans of “Diff’rent Strokes” rushed to the Internet to post their “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” tributes, and the news channels tried to piece together the details of his death (he had suffered a seizure on an episode of “The Insider” in February, and was admitted to a hospital in Provo, Utah, on Wednesday).

Mostly, though, there was a palpable sense of shock that the perennially youthful actor was gone so soon.

Almost as shocking as his death is the fact that Gary Coleman was 42 years old. Because his height topped out at 4 feet 8 inches, Coleman would always be young Arnold Jackson in the eyes of TV watchers. In more recent years, the public seemed hard-pressed to accept the more unfortunate aspects of this otherwise-cheerful comedian’s life.

In his happier days in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Coleman was a true cornerstone of popular culture, and wherever he went, laughter seemed not far behind.

Gary Coleman broke into acting in a series of successful guest appearances on everything from “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” to “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times.
“Diff’rent Strokes” premiered on November 3, 1978, and ran for a very successful eight seasons. Coleman was just 10 years old when he first played Arnold Jackson, the role that would eventually make him a star. The plot centered on orphans Arnold and brother Willis (Todd Bridges), who were adopted by a wealthy Park Avenue resident named Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain), who learned just as much from them as they learned from him. Willis had a knack for getting involved in many wacky hijinks that would always result in Arnold’s now more than iconic catch phrase, “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”
Coleman had a fairly successful film career as well. In 1979?s “The Kid From Left Field” — a remake of a 1953 movie — Coleman starred alongside Robert Guillaume, playing Jackie Robinson “J.R.” Cooper, who wound up the manager of the San Diego Padres even though he was a child.
And later, in 1981?s “On the Right Track” (eventually played relentlessly on HBO), Coleman played an orphaned shoeshine boy who lived in a locker at a railway station. He costarred with Norman Fell (better known as Mr. Roper on “Three’s Company.
Eventually, Coleman proved so popular on “Diff’rent Strokes” that in 1982, he was given his own Saturday morning cartoon called “The Gary Coleman Show.” Eerily enough, given recent news, in his self-titled show, Coleman played an angel who returns to Earth to help other children with their problems.

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