Which role do you most associate Dennis Hopper with, man?

Funny about Dennis? (<---well, not really!)

He was being groomed for a BIG CAREER, and when they starred him in a western directed by Henry Hathaway, Dennis got all 'methody' like his idols Brando and Dean, Clift.

Hathaway basically tortured him on the set with retakes. Then Dennis went to the back of the line, and started again in Television bit parts. He met Nicholsen and Fonda doing 'biker/drug/exploitation flicks, and the rest, as they say, is history.

He actually had a fair sized role in 1955's "Giant".