Dennis Hopper was born May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. This actor had the capabiltity of portraying anything from a young troubled teenager to a sadistic terrorist. His television career began in the early 1950s in programs such as "Medic", "Wagon Train", "Cheyenne", and "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater", in which he guest starred in 1958 in what was titled "The Sharpshooter", the pilot episode of "The Rifleman". He played a young man named Vernon who wins a shooting contest against Lucas who is forced to throw the match to protect Mark from a threat of harm. He also visited North Fork again in a different role in an episode titled "Three Legged Terror" in 1959. Hopper gained cult fame in the 1969 film "Easy Rider" in which he played Billy alongside Peter Fonda as two free-wheeling bikers on a cross-country journey of 1960s America. His other movie credits include the classic "Rebel Without A Cause", "Giant", "The Sons Of Katie Elder", "Hang 'Em High", "Apocalypse Now", "Blue Velvet", "Waterworld", and "Speed". He continues working steadily in the 1990s in feature films. Hopper was once quoted saying, "Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and contribute something to the next generation".