"A brief but incandescent cultural moment. . . . Rozzo succeeds, juggling names and events with the skill of someone intimately familiar with the turf. . . . Everybody Thought We Were Crazy is an exceptionally well-researched and well-written book . . . [about the] unlikely, outrageous, and creatively dazzling union of a madman and a queen." — Wall Street Journal
"A vibrant depiction of how some of the most substantial creative figures of the 20th century jostled against and inspired one another. . . . The triumph of Rozzo’s book is that one ultimately feels this sense of possibility at its full extension. . . . To feel all this potential before it evaporates, and before this improbable, fleetingly beautiful union . . . goes shooting down in flames." — The Atlantic
"Everybody Thought We Were Crazy is at once a biography of a wildly creative and inventive couple and a landmark and long-overdue cultural history of a scene that made a city. . . . [Rozzo's book] is that rare thing: A thrilling read that brings us inside a scandalously under-reported time and place." — Vogue
"Everybody Thought We Were Crazy serves as a portrait not only of a marriage but of a critical American artistic awakening. . . . Rozzo paints a neon picture of [Hayward and Hopper's] milieu. . . . a life and time in Technicolor." — Vanity Fair
"Wonderful. . . . [A] rollicking tale. . . . By centering his book on the juxtaposition of opposing worlds—of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward; of an America seemingly poised to run on flower power and an America that can’t quite manage a civil Thanksgiving meal—Rozzo makes each world, each character and each reality both shocking and believable, both ridiculous and sublime." — Washington Post
"The glamour and the underbelly of the hippest party house in 1960s L.A. . . . Mark Rozzo brings the lost scene to life in Everybody Thought We Were Crazy." — Los Angeles Times
"Armed with Hayward’s never-before-published memoirs and scores of in-depth interviews, Rozzo paints a fascinating if dark portrait not just of Hopper and Hayward but the culture they helped reshape." — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Rozzo has done an excellent job of bringing back the excitement of pop art, rock & roll and a California decade that was fueled by drink and drugs. Everybody Thought We were Crazy is a salute to those years." — Denver Post
"Mark Rozzo's deeply researched, beautifully written, and endlessly fascinating exploration of the couple and the time they spend together is an incredible portrait of a singular time and two people who helped define it." — Town & Country
“A scintillating romance plays out against the febrile backdrop of 1960s L.A. in [this] luminous debut. . . . [Rozzo] delivers a captivating drama of clashing egos and artistic struggles that captures the oft-volatile vicissitudes of love.” — Publishers Weekly
"[An] era-defining love story set against the backdrop of Hollywood in the sixties. . . . The book paints a detailed picture of the iconic Hopper and his relationship with Hayward." — Booklist
"Rozzo delves deep into [Dennis Hopper's and Brooke Hayward's] lives, making a strong case for their enduring cultural influence. Telling all the right tales, this story of 'the coolest kids in Hollywood' proves their artistic significance." — Kirkus Reviews
"Drawing on diligent research and an excellent array of interviews, Rozzo brings 1960s L.A. to life in all its joy, creativity, and chaos. Rozzo documents a roller-coaster ride of big ideas, big failures, lasting successes, and lost projects. Recommended for anyone interested in the culture of the 1960s." — Library Journal
“Turns out Brooke Hayward and Dennis Hopper were the Gerald and Sara Murphy of Los Angeles in the 1960s, as Mark Rozzo vividly demonstrates in this utterly compelling portrait of an unlikely marriage which encompassed the creative fecundity and cultural upheaval of that special time and place.” — Jay McInerney, author of Bright, Precious Days
“Mark Rozzo’s portrait of the lives of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward is a delicious peek into the private world of two wildly creative (if volatile) tastemakers whose galaxy of friends and collaborators redefined modern art and pop culture forever. In tracing the couple’s peripatetic footsteps, Rozzo lands us directly into the white-hot cultural moment when Pop Art, Hollywood, and a nascent ’60s bohemia converged, yielding up revelations and secret histories on virtually every page. A breathtaking achievement in research written in the cool and confident style of an expert storyteller.” — Joe Hagan, author of Sticky Fingers
“A fascinating couple, in a great city, at a thrilling moment: Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward, in Los Angeles, in the 1960s — that’s the wonderful topic Mark Rozzo has taken on in his new book. He lets us see the amazing creativity that came about because of that coincidence of people, place, and era. He also lets us see the pain that underlay the art and that tore Hopper and Hayward — and the decade — apart.” — Blake Gopnik, author of Warhol
“If there was one couple who epitomized the craziness and creativity of L.A. in the 1960s, it was Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward. Mark Rozzo tells the story of their relationship, and their era, in this can’t-put-it-down bio-history. Hopper and Hayward’s home was the epicenter of the art, movie, and music scenes where you were as likely to run into Andy Warhol as you were Jack Nicholson or Roger McGuinn. Compulsively readable.” — Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
“Mark Rozzo, an electric and virtuoso storyteller, resurrects the relationship between icons Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward to dissect their marriage and its fallout, and takes many fabulous detours along the way with the artists and stars who crossed paths with Hopper and Hayward.” — Gay Talese, author of The Kingdom and the Power
"[An] era-defining love story set against the backdrop of Hollywood in the sixties. . . . The book paints a detailed picture of the iconic Hopper and his relationship with Hayward."
"Rozzo has done an excellent job of bringing back the excitement of pop art, rock & roll and a California decade that was fueled by drink and drugs. Everybody Thought We were Crazy is a salute to those years."
"Everybody Thought We Were Crazy is at once a biography of a wildly creative and inventive couple and a landmark and long-overdue cultural history of a scene that made a city. . . . [Rozzo's book] is that rare thing: A thrilling read that brings us inside a scandalously under-reported time and place."
"The glamour and the underbelly of the hippest party house in 1960s L.A. . . . Mark Rozzo brings the lost scene to life in Everybody Thought We Were Crazy."
"Mark Rozzo's deeply researched, beautifully written, and endlessly fascinating exploration of the couple and the time they spend together is an incredible portrait of a singular time and two people who helped define it."
"Everybody Thought We Were Crazy serves as a portrait not only of a marriage but of a critical American artistic awakening. . . . Rozzo paints a neon picture of [Hayward and Hopper's] milieu. . . . a life and time in Technicolor."
"Wonderful. . . . [A] rollicking tale. . . . By centering his book on the juxtaposition of opposing worlds—of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward; of an America seemingly poised to run on flower power and an America that can’t quite manage a civil Thanksgiving meal—Rozzo makes each world, each character and each reality both shocking and believable, both ridiculous and sublime."
Mark Rozzo’s portrait of the lives of Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward is a delicious peek into the private world of two wildly creative (if volatile) tastemakers whose galaxy of friends and collaborators redefined modern art and pop culture forever. In tracing the couple’s peripatetic footsteps, Rozzo lands us directly into the white-hot cultural moment when Pop Art, Hollywood, and a nascent ’60s bohemia converged, yielding up revelations and secret histories on virtually every page. A breathtaking achievement in research written in the cool and confident style of an expert storyteller.”
Turns out Brooke Hayward and Dennis Hopper were the Gerald and Sara Murphy of Los Angeles in the 1960s, as Mark Rozzo vividly demonstrates in this utterly compelling portrait of an unlikely marriage which encompassed the creative fecundity and cultural upheaval of that special time and place.
A fascinating couple, in a great city, at a thrilling moment: Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward, in Los Angeles, in the 1960s — that’s the wonderful topic Mark Rozzo has taken on in his new book. He lets us see the amazing creativity that came about because of that coincidence of people, place, and era. He also lets us see the pain that underlay the art and that tore Hopper and Hayward — and the decade — apart.”
If there was one couple who epitomized the craziness and creativity of L.A. in the ’60’s, it was Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward. Mark Rozzo tells the story of their relationship, and their era, in this can’t-put-it-down bio-history. Hopper and Hayward’s home was the epicenter of the art, movie, and music scenes where you were as likely to run into Andy Warhol as you were Jack Nicholson or Roger McGuinn. Compulsively readable.
Mark Rozzo, an electric and virtuoso storyteller, resurrects the relationship between icons Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward to dissect their marriage and its fallout, and takes many fabulous detours along the way with the artists and stars who crossed paths with Hopper and Hayward.
"Mark Rozzo's deeply researched, beautifully written, and endlessly fascinating exploration of the couple and the time they spend together is an incredible portrait of a singular time and two people who helped define it."
"[An] era-defining love story set against the backdrop of Hollywood in the sixties. . . . The book paints a detailed picture of the iconic Hopper and his relationship with Hayward."
04/01/2022
Dennis Hopper and his first wife Brooke Hayward have perhaps not been given proper credit for their contributions to the art and aesthetic of the 1960s, but readers of Rozzo's (contributing editor, Vanity Fair) book will come away deeply impressed by the couple's efforts. Hopper rose to fame writing, directing, and starring in the iconic 1969 road film Easy Rider, but disparaged the majority of his own films as he neared the end of his life; today he's most remembered for playing villains in Blue Velvet and Speed. Hayward's great success, meanwhile, was her 1977 memoir Haywire, about growing up as the daughter of producer Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan. Hopper and Hayward were the influencers of their day—visitors to their Los Angeles home included artists (Ed Ruscha, Miles Davis, the Byrds), Black Panthers, and Hells Angels, and they had a collection of contemporary art to rival any gallery. Rozzo reveals that the environment was both vibrant and volatile, and Hopper was equal parts enthusiastic, loyal, and destructive; he was also abusive to friends, coworkers, and, ultimately, Hayward. Drawing on diligent research and an excellent array of interviews, Rozzo brings 1960s LA to life in all its joy, creativity, and chaos. VERDICT Rozzo documents a roller-coaster ride of big ideas, big failures, lasting successes, and lost projects. Recommended for anyone interested in the culture of the 1960s.—Bill Baars
2022-03-02
A showbiz tale of the tempestuous marriage at the heart of the birth of modern art in Los Angeles and the messy transition from old to new Hollywood.
Brooke Hayward (b. 1937) is the daughter of legendary film and theater agent Leland Hayward and actor Margaret Sullavan, a couple who knew a thing or two about dramatic marriages. As Vanity Fair contributor Rozzo chronicles, Brooke was on her way to becoming an actress, an “ingenue on the upswing,” when she met Dennis Hopper, who grew up in Dodge City, Kansas, far from the glamorous life Brooke knew. Hopper, “a self-sabotaging hard case,” got his first film credit on Rebel Without a Cause, idolizing troublemaker James Dean. In 1960, Leland, who worked with actors and didn’t want his daughter to marry one, was married to the former Pamela Churchill, who at one time was married to Winston Churchill’s son Randolph. In July 1961, Hopper and Brooke, by then a couple, showed up on a Vespa at the ritzy Beverly Hills Hotel for lunch with the high-society Leland and Pamela, who was shocked at their choice of vehicle. That anecdote serves as an apt representation of the culture clash between the Hollywood establishment and a younger generation yearning to craft more authentic movies and lives. Hopper and Brooke’s house, writes Rozzo, “became the era’s unofficial living room. Brooke and Dennis helped introduce Warhol to the West Coast with a spectacular coming-out party, hosted Jasper Johns and Claes Oldenburg, entertained an entire Olympus of movie gods, and gave shelter to Hells Angels and Black Panthers.” Hopper, who comes off as a preening jerk, would go on to revolutionize American film by co-creating Easy Rider—although he considered his still photography his most important artistic contribution. Rozzo delves deep into his characters’ lives, making a strong case for their enduring cultural influence.
Telling all the right tales, this story of “the coolest kids in Hollywood” proves their artistic significance.
