Everybody Thought We Were Crazy

Dennis Hopper, Brooke Hayward, and 1960s Los Angeles

By: Mark Rozzo

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

The stylish, wild story of the marriage of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward—a tale of love, art, Hollywood, and heartbreak

“Those years in the sixties when I was married to Dennis were the most wonderful and awful of my life.” —Brooke Hayward

Los Angeles in the 1960s: riots in Watts and on the Sunset Strip, wild weekends in Malibu, late nights at The Daisy discotheque, openings at the Ferus Gallery, and the convergence of pop art, rock and roll, and the New Hollywood. At the center of it all, one inspired, improbable, and highly combustible couple—Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward—lived out the emblematic love story of ’60s L.A.

The home these two glamorous young actors created for themselves and their family at 1712 North Crescent Heights Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills became the era’s unofficial living room, a kaleidoscopic realm—“furnished like an amusement park,” Andy Warhol said—that made an impact on anyone who ever stepped into it. Hopper and Hayward, vanguard collectors of contemporary art, packed the place with pop masterpieces by the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, and Warhol, and welcomed a who’s who of visitors, from Jane Fonda to Jasper Johns, Joan Didion to Tina Turner, Hells Angels to Black Panthers. In this house, everything that defined the 1960s went down: the fun, the decadence, the radical politics, and, ultimately, the danger and instability that Hopper explored in the project that made his career, became the cinematic symbol of the period, and blew their union apart—Easy Rider.

Everybody Thought We Were Crazy is at once a fascinating account of the Hopper and Hayward union and a deeply researched, panoramic cultural history. It’s the intimate saga of one couple whose own rise and fall—from youthful creative flowering to disorder and chaos—mirrors the very shape of the decade.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Mark Rozzo (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

A must for 60s art/music fans!

So good. Such a great concept. I never knew about this marriage, but Brooke Hayward and Dennis Hopper were right there in the middle of all the best of the 60s.

What a groovy book!

Really enjoyed this book. Great story and narration. A wonderful glimpse into 60’s Los Angeles art, movie and rock scene. Recommend.

Wonderful!

Mr. Rozzo deserves high praise for this gem. While Everybody stands alone as a superb biography, it is much more. It is a deep and wide chronicle of the lives of a family surrounded by greatness, with Dennis yearning to be great himself and Brooke longing to flourish. Both nearly drown in a sea of notoriety and excess but remarkably survive. Rosso’s empathetic lens is unblinking but compassionate. Likewise, Jason Culp’s narration is in tune and unpretentious.

It's lovely that Rozzo tells the astounding story of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Heyward so well. Hopper was a lightning rod of his generation, on par with Kesey, Stone, Warhol, Ginsberg, and Mailer. But unfortunately, self-destructive excesses, madness, and addiction made it difficult to appreciate him. It's a great story well worth the telling.

Such a Great Slice of LA History

The story was well written with a good amount of history. It made me want to open Spotify and listen to all the great music that was happening at the time and Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward were at the cross-section of a lot of this music, the art scene, movies, fashion snd do much more. I enjoyed being back in the 60’s!

Stick with it

I almost checked out when the author spent far too much time describing Hopper and Hayward’s respective childhoods, but I’m glad I did because the meat of the book was fantastic.

How Dennis Hopper & Brooke Hayward Changed Culture Forever

The incredible story of the passionate, stormy, culture setting marriage was of actor, photographer, artist , director and madman Dennis Hopper to Hollywood royalty, art maven, mother and author Brooke Hayward only lasted about 8 years but was a significant part of the explosions that changed culture during that tumultuous decade. This highly readable and detailed account of their lives, loves and influence captures the little know story and these fascinating characters. From the birth of pop art to the phenomenal making of the low budget blockbuster “Easy Rider” this is a great read and a window into the cultural revolution that changed world culture forever.

1712 was the place to be

Very glad I spent my time with this memoir of a period and place in world culture history that still reverberates today. The art, the music, the characters and the whole scene were captured and explored with insight and excitement. You could tell the author loved uncovering the feel of that time and place; 1712 and LA and of course Easy Rider and a new approach to movie making. I don’t remember who turned me on to this book but I’m grateful that they did.

Why the publisher chose the title and cover picture is beyond me. Not very inviting.

The Sixties - yikes, forgot how awful they were

I was disappointed. This book did not really delve into the whys of the messes in these peoples' lives. Moreover large stretches were boring - rich and well known people driftng around in self absorbed mayhem. The tragic and awful events of the 60's were window dressing to Hayward's life. As for Hopper - the last part of his life story basically disappears into the NM dust.