Hopper named commander in French Legion of Honor.

People

Legion of Honor

Dennis Hopper has been named a commander in the French Legion of Honor. The 72-year-old actor was visibly moved as he received France's most prestigious prize at a ceremony in Paris on Monday. The Cinematique Francaise in Paris is opening an exhibit on Hopper this week that will run through Jan. 19. Hopper's screen credits include "Apocalypse Now," "Blue Velvet" and 1969's "Easy Rider," which he also directed.

On the mend

Lawmaker hit by car

Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio suffered broken ribs and vertebrae when she was struck by a car while jogging last week, but the damage wasn't discovered until after she fainted from pain on a weekend fact-finding visit to Afghanistan. The Republican congresswoman, 56, subsequently flew back to Ohio and was resting Monday in her home just east of Cincinnati. The avid marathoner was struck by a car last week. Police still haven't found the driver.

Passages

French actor Guillaume Depardieu, 37, the son of French movie star Gerard Depardieu, died Monday in Paris from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia.

Bob Jones, 72, the longtime publicist for Michael Jackson who said he dubbed the singer "the king of pop" and who co-wrote "The Man Behind the Mask," an unauthorized biography critical of the star, died of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.

Dorothy Green, 70, a leading environmental activist who established the grass-roots group Heal the Bay and headed efforts to change water policy in California, died Monday from a melanoma at her home in West Los Angeles.

Roy K. Moore, 94, an FBI agent who oversaw investigations into some of the most notorious civil rights-era killings, including those depicted in the movie "Mississippi Burning," died Sunday

Today in History

1912: Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the presidency, was shot in the chest in Milwaukee. Despite the wound, he went ahead with a scheduled speech.

1960: The idea of a Peace Corps was first suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan.

1987: A real-life drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day-care center. (Rescuers worked 58 hours to free her.)

Today's Birthdays

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, 92. Actor Roger Moore, 81. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren, 69. Actor Harry Anderson, 56. Actor Jon Seda, 38. Country singer Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks), 34. Singer Usher, 30. Actor Jordan Brower, 27.

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