Hopper’s career evolved from supporting roles, like his turn in “Rebel Without a Cause“, to ushering in an American cinema revolution with “Easy Rider. Both behind and in front of the camera Hopper worked with some of the greatest, including David Lynch, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Francis Ford Coppola, James Dean, Quentin Tarantino, George Stevens, Peter Fonda, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Christopher Walken and Rock Hudson, and yet was never upstaged. His meltdown, courtesy of drug and alcohol abuse, midway through his career didn’t seem to stop the man and he came through with courage and fervor rarely seen. Hopper commanded attention, appreciated his craft and focused on complex and conflicted characters, which he easily made the audience hate and yet love. It’s difficult to discuss how just how major of a part Hopper played in the evolution of American cinema, the studio system and the role of an actor. Along with a handful of friends, Hopper changed what a movie needed to be to find success and what America wanted out of its leading men. He paved the road both for auteurs and anyone who found that road to hell was not a one-way street. Without him, some of the classic films we know today would be filled with looming holes and redemption might not come to those who search for it. Beyond his affect on film, Hopper was an avid collector and creator of art, and was an integral part of the culture in the late 70′s and early 80′s, along with friends Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel and his photographs marked the evolution of the popular art scene . He was also a strong political voice in Hollywood and more than anything, a father and friend. His loss will be felt throughout Hollywood and New York, and the film community as a whole. Hopper seemed to understand life’s struggles and its successes and will hopefully be remembered for his role in changing the tone of films and the way we as Americans looked at ourselves. We can only hope Hopper is enjoying a cool Pabst Blue Ribbon with Dean and Co. somewhere in the great yonder. RIP.

While Haim had fallen on hard times the past few years, even at one point selling teeth and hair to cover his debts courtesy of addiction, he will be best remembered as the free spirit and adorable teen idol he once was. His career blossomed overnight and his starring roles in films like Lucas and The Lost Boys confirmed that not only was he a heartthrob, but he had the chops to succeed in this business. He partnered with Corey Feldman, the duo was dubbed “The Coreys” by the 80′s media, for seven films, including Lost Boys, License to Drive and my personal favorite,Dream a Little Dream (which I purchased from a local video rental place for $20). “The Coreys” were synonymous with partying, young Hollywood, box office success and 80′s excess. Haim found himself at the end of the decade with a crazy drug habit, fledgling career and an even sadder private life. Haim all but disappeared in the early 90′s with flop after flop at box office and addictions eating away at him.
After a drug induced stroke, Haim found himself on the road to recovery in 2004 and returned in 2007 to the spotlight with his reality show “The Two Coreys“, which followed Feldman and Haim for their quest to move back on top of the Hollywood food chain. The show lasted two seasons and brought the best friends back together and as Defamer ridiculed to the point of not on the reality program, back and ready to work. Haim saw little lift to his career from the program and recently just wrapped up production the thriller, American Sunset. Today, Haim passed away, ending a possible career resurrection and the possibility of a happy ending.

As a child, there were few things better than Corey Haim. His looks, charm and humor were the essential pre-teen package and I would have followed him to the ends of the earth. While someone dying THIS young is tragic and sad, what is really sad about the whole thing is that its not surprising. Haim was a casualty of Hollywood, and by that I mean a child star who was used up until he couldn’t give anymore, and then medicated to hide the pain. Its common practice in Hollywood, but sometimes there are those folks that actually deserve to continue to work, who have a gift and should be respected. Unfortunately, Haim had to battle various demons while attempting to take back his career, and his childhood was riddled with divorce, abuse and overt exposure to adult themes.

The glimmer and hope that was once his signature fell away as time went on and sadly, its not an easy thing to get back. As the similar child star story continues to play out, the pain of being unloved as an adult is sometimes too much for them to handle. And Haim is just another story to add to the growing pile of stars who taken their own lives, consciously or accidentally. Haim is the reason I actually added a category Sadness to my blog, because you could see that deep down all the guy wanted to do was act and entertain the masses. He was not happy with addiction and was even more depressed by his lack of ability to truly kick what ended up taking his life. Hopefully, we can learn the proper way to treat people in this business, avoid tearing them down and learn that medicating does not always “fix” the problem. But I can only assume that this will not be the last sad story I need to recap on this blog. Little boy lost, Corey Haim will be greatly missed and I would like to personally thank him for bringing hours of entertainment to my life. Aloha Corey. And hopefully you can now truly rest.

Let’s remember him this way, shall we?

Conan was feted by some of the biggest stars in the business, who came to support the man and say thanks to what he did. O’Brien in between big name guests like Tom Hanks, who created the Coco moniker, Steve Carrell and Neil Young, wanted to make sure that his fans, especially the youth who created this movement in support of him, knew that thinking big and being positive would not let you down in the end. O’Brien said, “To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism- it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.”

He rounded out his last night as host with a rocking version of “Free Bird” performed by Will Ferrell, his wife Dawn, Beck, Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper and his band. O’Brien joined in on the fun, grabbed a guitar, which presumably was from his massive personal collection, and wailed away. Oddly enough, this song became one of my favorites courtesy of the soundtrack for a little movie Tom Hanks was in himself. You might have heard of it, Forrest Gump? Check out O’Brien and his band of merry rocker.

For me, the program was emotional on various levels. O’Brien was the first last night talk show host I grew up with. By the time I was old enough to get it, Leno had already taken the throne from Johnny Carson after his first vicious battle for the spot with Dave Letterman. And Letterman, while funny, was too old for me to get. O’Brien was quirky, awkward, smart and more than anything into “my” pop culture. He opened my eyes to a different level of humor, alongside “The State” and “Kids in the Hall”. He was the antithesis of standard late night programming. And something that has yet to be noted in the nearly thousand pieces that have pontificated over this late night debacle is the amount of exposure his program brought to not yet big names in music and comedy. When Neil Young ended his beautiful performance tonight, and we found out he was more of a Conan supporter than to be expected, he thanked O’Brien for what he has done for “new music”. And it’s true, what Johnny Carson was to comedians in the lates 70′s and 1980′s, Conan was to indie rock bands in the 90′s and early ’00s. He was the only place I would ever see some of my favorite bands get any coverage outside of MTV and knowing what occurred behind the scenes, he had his hand in picking out the majority of the musical quests. He got “us”. We weren’t just an audience to him, we were his people and he ours. Micheal Ian Black explained it best why this whole mess has seemed to really effect my generation. If someone like O’Brien can get screwed by a big corporation, what’s to keep us safe? It was almost a slap in the face to anyone who doesn’t like the average comedian, the anti-Dane Cook in us all. For all us kids, who grew up on bizarre tripped out cartoons, after school specials and found humor in Ween songs, its a real dose of reality that in fact we can not have it all. So from the bottom of my heart and from one pale, red-headed Irish kid to the next, I want to thank you Conan O’Brien. I want to thank you for entertaining us for years, opening my eyes to comedy and music I had no idea existed, backing your staff in your original move to LA and in your contract negotiations and for most importantly, keeping it classy. I know you are going to go on a much deserved and well, legally mandated vacation, but I want to let you know you have a supporter in me for life and I will be waiting with a cowbell for September 1st to come, if only for the better weather. You go Coco. You go.

Swayze was a normal actor, in a successful marriage and he was able to work in Hollywood for three decades, so in other words, he was an oddity for the industry. He became famous in the mid-1980′s with a few brawny style hits like The Outsiders and Roadhouse, but his big break was Dirty Dancing, where he played every little girls’ dream dance partner. After that, he was box office gold and was able to fit that incredibly hard to fill role of bad boy with a soul. While his star faded in the late 90′s, a quirky appearance in Donnie Darko revitalized his career, giving him both indie cred and notice from the industry once again. He had just made the return to Hollywood with a prime time cable series when he was diagnosed, and while he was able to work through it for the first season, it was difficult to imagine the struggling actor getting further than that. In his illness, he became the pillar of strength and embodying the ideal mentality to get one through the ordeal that cancer is. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Lisa.

Swayze was a remarkably unique Hollywood character. He was able to achieve stardom with the help of both men and women. Normally, an actor finds support from one group or the other. He is either the action star, making all the men want to give up their day jobs and get their hands dirty or he is the sensitive soul making women feel like they need to help him through his struggles. Swayze mastered both, making women fall in love with him and men wanting to be him, a true testament to your star quality. And what was amazing about this talented actor, singer and dancer was that he never let any of this get to his head. He was able to keep a stable and productive relationship with Lisa, succeed in his career and still be a class act, and truly this is a strange thing for Hollywood. As you can see from the outpouring of the stars he had worked with over the years, he was a man rare to Hollywood. Hopefully Swayze’s legacy can be that of great character and his death can lead the charge into . Never mind that I used to be obsessed with Patrick, we really can respect him as an actor, a performer and an artist who was never afraid to laugh at himself.

Mr. Patrick Swayze your courage was both empowering and enlightening. You will be remembered for both your talent and your character and you really were a breath of fresh air in this business. As it has been said, they broke the mold….RIP.