The EASY RIDER veteran was surprised by the quality of the script for the Pentagon drama, and immediately accepted the role.

Hopper says, "What happened was, I ran into Taylor Hackford, who directed RAY, and he said, 'You ever thought about doing episodic television?'

"I said, 'Absolutely f**king not!' And he said, 'Well too bad, I got a great f**king part for you. The bad news is it starts in two days!'

"So it was pretty sudden."

Scenes from DENNIS HOPPER's US TV series 'E-Ring' on NBC, Los Angeles, California - 18.08.05