I should have been dead ten times over. I’ve thought about that a lot. I believe in miracles. It’s an absolute miracle that I’m still around.

- Dennis Hopper

Well apparently it finally did happen. I was very sad to hear actor, director and collector Dennis Hopper passed away over the weekend.

The alcohol was awful. I was a terrible alcoholic. I mean, people used to ask how much drugs I did. I said, ‘I only do drugs so I can drink more’. I was doing the coke so I could drink more. I mean, I don’t know any other reason. I’d start drinking in the morning. I’d drink all day long.

- Dennis Hooper

Most people (including himself) will remember Hopper as a volatile, drunken junkie who starred alongside Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider. But I’ll remember him as Frank Booth, the nitrous-huffing nutter in David Lynch’s erotic thriller, Blue Velvet.

Don’t toast to my health, toast to my fuck!

- Frank Booth

And other people will remember him for being a prolific art collector. Particularly street art. I saw a doco about his collection once, and he said he didn’t buy art because of who did it, he bought it because he liked it. An artist in his own right, Hopper once bought a Basquiat for US$17000, right before the Basquiat died of a heroin overdose. Soon after, the painting was valued at a cool million dollars. Just goes to show people are just born with good taste. He was one of the greats.

So in memory, I propose a toast to one of the greats: here’s to your fuck, Mr. Hopper.

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