丹尼斯·霍伯1936年5月17日生于美国肯萨斯州。舞台经验丰富的霍伯，在19岁即踏入影坛，并和詹姆斯·迪恩因合作《无因的反叛》及《巨人》两部名片。不过早期星运平平，只能在B级电影中出任角色。1969年首次尝试自编自导自演的公路片《逍遥骑士》，推出后即引起世界范围的强烈反响，并以该片扬威戛纳国际影展。之后又陆续有几部执导作品问世。
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.
