“Duke doesn’t like this method shit”: How John Wayne saved Dennis Hopper from Hollywood obscurity
Even though being a hellraiser would become a signature part of his persona when he finally rose to prominence, Dennis Hopper could have torpedoed his own career before it even started gathering steam after being tarred with the dreaded brush of being difficult very early on.
Having sought to emulate Marlon Brando by adopting the method style of acting, it looked as though Hopper was destined to follow a similar trajectory after three of his first four feature film appearances came in James Dean duo Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, along with Burt Lancaster’s Western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
However, when he found himself working with a director cut from a more classical cloth, tensions began to rise. Henry Hathaway was a regular collaborator of both John Wayne and Gary Cooper, but he discovered that Hopper had a habit for rubbing him the wrong way when they collaborated on 1958’s From Hell to Texas.
The actor favoured a more naturalistic and authentic approach to his scenes, whereas the filmmaker was most definitely not of a similar mind. Hopper would end up storming off the set on multiple occasions due to his frustrations with Hathaway repeatedly telling him to rein in his method tendencies, which culminated in the rising star being freed from his contract and effectively blackballed from mainstream Hollywood.
It would be another seven years before he was welcomed back into the fold, and in a delicious twist of irony, it was Hathaway who was at the helm of The Sons of Katie Elder, which starred Wayne in the lead role. Speaking to the Golden Globes, Hopper reflected on the integral role ‘The Duke’ played in salvaging a career that was in danger of fizzling out.
After a discussion between the director and the leading man, Hathaway extended an olive branch and came to the conclusion that “we’re going to give you a job here because you’re a wonderful actor.” Hopper was thrilled, but there was a caveat; “The only thing is Duke doesn’t like this method shit.” Happy to put his favoured technique to one side for the sake of a job, it turned out to be the right call.
“And I said, ‘You see, Henry, I’m a much better actor now than I was eight years ago,'” Hopper recalled. “And he said, ‘You weren’t a bad actor, kid, you weren’t bad. You’re just smarter.'” With his lesson finally having been learned, the future counterculture icon and Easy Rider figurehead had gotten his foot back in the door.
Hopper’s first credit after his influential 1969 classic came just months later, when he re-teamed with Hathaway and Wayne for True Grit, bringing his comeback full circle in a very short space of time.
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