Before They Were Stars: 19-Year Old Dennis Hopper on “Medic”

It’s Dennis Hopper’s birthday today and it’s been almost one full year since he passed away, capping off an acting career that lasted an impressive 55 years. Actually, after hearing some of the crazy drug-related stories of his younger days, I think it’s something of a miracle that he even LIVED 55 years! Anyway, back in 1955, long before the days of ER and House, one of the very first medical dramas to find popularity on television was a show called Medic, and it gave 19-year old Dennis Hopper his first acting role as a teenager who suffers from epileptic seizures. Man, it’s quite surreal seeing young Dennis play such an innocent, polite, mild-mannered character, and hard to imagine he once acted in an era when the “F” word wasn’t allowed to be used.