lifestyle MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014 Fans honor Dennis HopperFEATURES at ‘Easy Rider’ festival otorcyclists and movie fanatics from as far off what town officials hope will be an annual event away as Canada made the pilgrimage to - Dennis Hopper Day - with a rally and ride through Mnorthern New Mexico to celebrate Dennis some of the places made famous in the film. Hopper and his iconic counterculture film “Easy Motorcyclists pulled out of the plaza just before Rider.” Several dozen motorcycles gathered Saturday 1 pm MDT. Led by a police escort, they started their in the dusty, adobe encircled plaza in the communi- easy ride on the two-lane road heading out of Taos, ty of Ranchos de Taos, 4 miles south of Taos, to kick a diverse town known for skiing, art and Hispanic and Native American culture. Not unlike scenes in the movie, snow-capped mountains served as a classic backdrop for much of the ride. Saturday would have been the late actor and director’s 78th birthday. Hopper lived in Taos for years and is buried here. Town Manager Rick Bellis says the day is aimed at recognizing Hopper’s con- tributions as a resident, a filmmaker, a supporter of the arts and for simply being a “colorful member” of the community. “His image really represents the spirit of Taos,” Bellis said. “He was independent, slightly eccentric A July 10, 1991 photo shows actor Dennis Hopper. but incredibly talented. He sort of became a symbol for a whole new generation.” Hopper first came to area’s traditional Hispanic and Native American fam- New Mexico in the late 1960s to scout locations for ilies to open up to outsiders when he first arrived in “Easy Rider.” Shot on a shoestring budget, the inde- the ‘60s. In fact, he was the only person to get per- pendent film summed up the hopes and anxieties mission to film at Taos Pueblo, an American Indian of the ‘60s, romanticized the open road and ended community dating to the late 13th and early 14th up revolutionizing Hollywood by forcing the studio centuries that’s recognized as a UNESCO World gates to open to a new generation of film school Heritage site. graduates. In this June 22, 2000 photo, actor Dennis Hopper “He walked across the multicultural borders here. “Nothing like this had ever been done before. It poses on a Harley Davidson motorbike at the I think that really started with him and the movie was a phenomenon,” said John Hellmann, an English ground of the world exposition Expo 2000 in and has continued,” Bellis said. “In the last few years, professor and a member of the film studies program Hanover, Germany. we have really become that kind of community that at Ohio State University. he saw, that there was no difference between our The appeal of rebellion, motorcycles and the tinue to draw people to Taos. This marks the first ethnicities and who, when and where we came open road have sustained the popularity of “Easy year of the rally and ride, but organizers have plans from.” “We all came here for the same reason, that In an Oct 1971 file photo, director-actor Dennis Hopper poses Rider” over four decades, and town officials are to add more music and film venues in the coming awe of nature and that spirit of the last of the wild in Hollywood, Calif. hopeful the film and the legend of Hopper will con- years. Bellis said Hopper was able to get some of the West, that independence,” he said. —AP Oprah Winfrey helps Barbara Walters say farewell prah Winfrey and former Secretary Clippers,” referring to the Los Angeles team of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sur- whose owner is being forced out by the Oprised Barbara Walters as the leg- NBA for making racial comments that were endary newswoman taped her final edition recorded. of “The View” to end a five-decade career on television. Actor Michael Douglas, a You are my legacy longtime friend and frequent subject for The audience erupted at the sight of Walters’ interviews, also dropped by for the Winfrey, who told Walters, “You’re the rea- tribute, which aired Friday on ABC at 11 am. son I wanted to be in television.” “You shat- Looking smart in a cream-colored blazer tered the glass ceiling for so many women,” and a black skirt, the 84-year-old Walters said Winfrey, who then brought on a star- was presiding over a studio audience of tling parade of them, some two dozen friends, colleagues and fans on hand to wit- prominent on-air women including Diane ness a bit of history. Although she will retain a behind-the- scenes role as executive producer of the talk show she created 17 years ago, she is ending her daily on-air involvement, while limiting ABC News appearances to the occasional story or interview. “I can’t believe this day has come, and I can’t believe it’s for real,” Clinton told Walters, who began her career on NBC’s “Today” in 1962, then came to ABC in 1976, where her many duties ranged from co-anchoring “20/20” to hosting scores of specials as well This image released by ABC shows, seated from left, Whoopi Goldberg, Jenny McCarthy, Oprah Winfrey, Sherri Shepherd and Barbara Walters posing as “The View.” with female broadcasters during a taping of Walters’ final co-host appearance on ‘The View,’ Thursday, May 15, 2014 in New York. —AP photos Typically, Walters couldn’t let Clinton get away without fielding the question on so many minds: Is she running for president in 2016? “I am running,” smiled Clinton. “Around the park.” A bit later, Douglas This photo shows TV personality Barbara Walters at the Legends Ball, an award ceremony hosted by Oprah Winfrey in Santa Barbara, Calif. Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts, Gayle King, Connie Chung and Joan Lunden. “You are my legacy,” Walters, visibly moved, said This image shows, Oprah Winfrey, right, to them as they crowded around her embracing Barbara Walters during a tap- onstage. The hour had its comic twist: In a ing of Walters’ final co-host appearance pre-taped segment, Walters (who, after all, on ‘The View’. has interviewed everybody else) lobbed some questions at herself, in the person of brought the subject up again with Walters. former “Saturday Night Live” player Cheri “If Hillary runs,” he said, “I bet you’d be a Oteri doing a spot-on Walters imitation. great vice president.” Some of the best Walters brought the hour to a close with moments happened during commercial a heartfelt statement looking back with breaks, never to be seen by viewers. Then amazement on her career, then signing off audience members could snap photos and with a pledge to “take a deep breath and interact with Walters and her co-panelists enjoy my ‘View.’” But a more telling moment (Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and took place during a break, as the throng of Jenny McCarthy). At one point Walters, spy- women she had paved the way for posed ing the New York Knicks basketball player with her for a group portrait. It was a J.R. Smith in the stands, broke up the room remarkable tableau. “I have to remember by telling him that, now, with retirement, “I this on the bad days,” Walters said quietly, just want you to know I’m buying the “because this is the best.” — AP ‘Human Network’ This image shows past and present co-hosts, from left, Whoopi Goldberg, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Lisa Ling, Artists of the Catalan theatre company ‘La Fura dels Baus’ perform the ‘Red Humana’ (Human Network) play during the Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy on the Noche Blanca (White Night) festival in Burgos, northern Spain. — AFP photos set of the daytime talk show ‘The View.’ .