- Was originally offered the script for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but turned it down. Spielberg then suggested Hooper direct Poltergeist (1982), a project he had written himself and had planned on directing. Hooper took the job and Spielberg himself directed "E.T.".
- Unlike his near contemporaries such as George A. Romero and Wes Craven, who have always longed to work outside the horror genre but have been creatively pigeonholed to stay within it by happenstance and the film industry, Hooper has always been attracted almost solely to horror and science-fiction films.
- The three films he made for Cannon--Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)--were all drastically re-cut by the producers and failed at the box office. Hooper then began working in television, where he's stayed, with only a few exceptions, since the late 1980s.
- Music video: Directed the video "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol.
- Had worked on a sequel to his The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) in 1980 with screenwriter John Milius. Although that project fell through, Hooper would eventually direct a sequel in 1986 for Cannon.
- Was fired, in mid-production, from two films--The Dark (1979) and Venom (1981)--before directing Poltergeist (1982), his biggest success to date.
- Turned down the offer to direct Wolfen (1981).
- Was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival Hall of Fame on October 22, 2005, in Tempe, Arizona.
- Father of William Tony Hooper.
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