Dennis Hopper to pay wife $US12,000 a month

AILING movie star Dennis Hopper, who is dying from cancer, has been ordered to pay his estranged wife and daughter $US12,000 a month.

A frail-looking Dennis Hopper at a dedication ceremony for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last month. Picture: AP

AILING movie star Dennis Hopper, who is dying from cancer, has been ordered to pay his estranged wife and daughter $US12,000 in monthly spousal and child support by a Los Angeles judge.

Hopper, 73, who is in the process of divorcing from his wife Victoria, did not attend the hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Amy Pellman yesterday.

The Easy Rider and Blue Velvet actor's attorney Joseph Mannis said in court documents last month that Hopper's prostate cancer was terminal.

The actor looked frail when he made a rare public appearance last month to collect a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hopper filed for divorce in January after 14 years of marriage. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter.

Hopper has appeared in several classic films during a career spanning more than half a century.

A notable early role came in the James Dean hit Rebel Without a Cause in 1955 before his appearance in 1969's counter-culture classic Easy Rider, and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

AFP