Dennis Hopper interview in San Diego, 1963

January 28, 1963 This afternoon we spoke to Dennis Hopper, a San Diego youth—now one of Hollywood’s most successful actors. He was at Shelter Island Inn, where a mermaid lounged beside the swimming pool, and Hollywood’s idea of sirens from outer space paraded around while Hopper helped a couple of more conventional mermaids out of the water. All this called attention to the opening Wednesday in San Diego of a science fiction picture, Battle Beyond the Sun, and one about a mermaid titled Night Tide which features Hopper. Harold Keen asks the Helix High grad if his San Diego acting experience served as a good foundation for his career in Hollywood. He praised the Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse calling the experience “invaluable.” At the age of 26 he had already been in ten or eleven movies and about 150 guest spots on television. This rare interview is a treasure. He is delightful and charming—so very kind and open to Mr. Keen. He graduated from Helix High School in La Mesa, California in 1954.