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Arthur Penn

BornArthur Hiller PennSeptember 27, 1922Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

DiedSeptember 28, 2010(aged88)New York City, United States

OccupationFilm director, producer

Spouse(s)Peggy Maurer (19552010; his death)

ChildrenMatthew Penn, Molly Penn

Arthur Hiller Penn(September 27, 1922 September 28, 2010)[1]was an American director and producer of film, television and theater. Penn directed critically acclaimed films throughout the 1960s such as the dramaThe Chase(1966), the biographical crime filmBonnie and Clyde(1967) and the comedyAlice's Restaurant(1969). He also got attention for his revisionist WesternLittle Big Man(1970).By the mid-1970s his films were received with much less enthusiasm. In the 1990s he returned to stage and television direction and production, including an executive producer role for the crime seriesLaw & Order.[2]Contents[hide] 1Early years 2Career 3Personal life 4Work 4.1Filmography 4.2Stage 5See also 6References 7External linksEarly years[edit]Penn was born inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Sonia (Greenberg), a nurse, and Harry Penn, a watchmaker.[3]He was the younger brother ofIrving Penn, the successful fashion photographer. During the 1920s, he moved in with his mother after she divorced Penn's father. Some time after, he came back to his sickly father, leading him to run his father's watch repair shop. At 19 he was drafted into the army. Stationed in Britain, he became interested in theater. He started to direct and take part in shows being put on for the soldiers around England at the time. As Penn grew up, he became increasingly interested in film, especially after seeing theOrson WellesfilmCitizen Kane.[citation needed]He later attendedBlack Mountain Collegein North Carolina, and was a featured commentator in the documentaryFully Awakeabout the college.[4]Career[edit]After making a name for himself as a director of quality television dramas, Penn made his feature debut with awestern,The Left Handed Gun(1958) forWarner Brothers. A retelling of theBilly the Kidlegend, it was distinguished byPaul Newman's sharp portrayal of the outlaw as a psychologically troubled youth (the role was originally intended for the archetypal portrayer of troubled teens,James Dean).[citation needed]The production was completed in only 23 days, but Warner Brothers reedited the film against his wishes with a new ending he disapproved of. The film subsequently failed upon release in North America, but was well received in Europe.[5]Penn's second film wasThe Miracle Worker(1962), the story ofAnne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deafHelen Kellerhow to communicate. It garnered two Academy Awards for its leadsAnne BancroftandPatty Duke. Penn had won aTony Awardfor directing the stage production, written byWilliam Gibson, also starring Bancroft and Duke,[6]and he had directed Bancroft's Broadway debut in playwright Gibson's first Broadway production,Two for the Seesaw.[citation needed]In 1965 Penn directedMickey One. Heavily influenced by theFrench New Wave, it was the dreamlike story of a standup comedian (played byWarren Beatty) on the run from sinister, ambiguous forces. In 2010, Penn commented: "You know, you could not have gone through theSecond World Warwith all that nonsense with Russia being an ally and then being the big black monster. It was an absurd time. TheMcCarthyperiod was ridiculous and humiliating, deeply humiliating. When I finally did 'Mickey One', it was in repudiation of the kind of fear that overtook free people to the point where they were telling on each other and afraid to speak out. It just astonished me, really astonished me. I mean, I was a vet, so it was nothing like what we thought we were fighting for."[7]Penn's next film wasThe Chase(1966) a thriller following events in a small corrupt Southern town on the day an escaped convict, played byRobert Redford, returns. Although not a major success,The Chasenonetheless caught the mood of the turbulent times, a 'state of the nation' tale of racism, corruption and the violence endemic in American society.[citation needed]Reuniting with Warren Beatty for the rural gangster filmBonnie and Clyde(1967), Penn once again showed that he had his finger on the pulse of thezeitgeist, perfectly catching the youthful disenchantment of the late '60s. Although set 30 years earlier, during theDepression, it was very much in the spirit of the contemporaneous"counter-culture".Bonnie and Clydewent on to become a worldwide phenomenon, at the same time pushing the limits of acceptable screen violence with its bloody machine-gun climax (two years beforeSam Peckinpah'sThe Wild Bunch).[citation needed]The film was strongly influenced by the French New Wave and itself went on to make a huge impression on a younger generation of filmmakers. Indeed, there was a strong resurgence in the "love on the run" subgenre in the wake ofBonnie and Clyde,peaking withBadlands(1973; in which Penn received acknowledgement in the credits).Next cameAlice's Restaurant(1969), based on a satiricalballadbyArlo Guthrie. His next film after this was a return to the western genre,Little Big Man(1970), a "shaggy dog" account of the life of a white man (played byDustin Hoffman) who gets adopted into theCheyennetribe.In 1973 Penn provided a segment for a promotional film for theOlympics,Visions of Eightalong with several other major directors such asJohn SchlesingerandMilo Forman. His next film was a paranoid thriller set in Los Angeles,Night Moves(1975) about a private detective (played byGene Hackman) on the trail of a runaway. Next came a comic western,The Missouri Breaks(1976), a ramshackle, eccentric story of a horse thief (Jack Nicholson) facing off with an eccentric bounty hunter (played byMarlon Brando).In the 1980s, Penn's career began to lose its momentum with critics and audiences:Four Friends(1981) was a traumatic look back at the Sixties, returning to the old themes of Vietnam, civil rights, sexual politics, and drugs. Next cameTarget(1985), a mainstream thriller reuniting the director withGene Hackman, andDead of Winter(1987) was a horror/thriller in the style ofAlfred Hitchcock, which he took over directing during production.[8]Subsequently, Penn returned to work in television, including an executive producer role for the crime seriesLaw & Order.Throughout the years, Penn had maintained an affiliation withYale University, occasionally teaching classes there.[9]Personal life[edit]In 1955, he married Peggy Maurer. They had two children, a son,Matthew Pennand a daughter, Molly Penn.In July 2009, Penn was hospitalized withpneumonia.[10]In July 2010, Penn reflected on his life and career, including his relationship withAlger Hiss:...During that period [Mickey One] I met Alger Hiss, and we became very close friends. In fact, Alger got married here in my apartment. And so I became more of a student of the Hiss period than I knew what to do with, frankly.[7]Penn died in Manhattan, on September 28, 2010, a day after his 88th birthday from congestive heart failure.[1]He is survived by his two children, Molly and Matthew.Work[edit]Filmography[edit] The Left Handed Gun(1958) The Miracle Worker(1962) Mickey One(1965) The Chase(1966) Bonnie and Clyde(1967) Flesh and Blood(1968) Alice's Restaurant(1969) Little Big Man(1970) Visions of Eight(documentary) (segmentThe Hightest) (1973) Night Moves(1975) The Missouri Breaks(1976) Four Friends(1981) Target(1985) Dead of Winter(1987) Penn & Teller Get Killed(1989) The Portrait Television film (1993) Inside Television film (1996)Stage[edit] Two for the Seesaw(1958) The Miracle Worker(1959) An Evening WithMike NicholsandElaine May(1960) All the Way Home(1960) Toys in the Attic(1960) Golden Boy(1964) Wait Until Dark(1966) Sly Fox(1976) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(2000) Fortune's Fool(2002)

See also[edit]Biography portal

Sally PieroneReferences[edit]1. ^Jump up to:abDave Kehr (September 29, 2010)."Arthur Penn, Director of 'Bonnie and Clyde,' Dies".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on October 2, 2010. RetrievedSeptember 29,2010.2. Jump up^Whitaker, Sheila (September 29, 2010)."Arthur Penn Obituary".The Guardian(London).3. Jump up^"Arthur Penn Biography".filmreference. 2010.Archivedfrom the original on October 2, 2010. RetrievedSeptember 29,2010.4. Jump up^"Ashley" (October 5, 2010)."Arthur Penn and Black Mountain College".5. Jump up^Harris, Mark (2008).Pictures at a Revolution: Five Films and the Birth of the New Hollywood. Penguin Press. p.17.6. Jump up^The 1960 Tony Awards7. ^Jump up to:abGregory Zucker; Robert White (August 2010)."Radical Reflection Arthur Penn, In Conversation with Gregory Zucker and Robert White".Brooklyn Rail. RetrievedSeptember 29,2010.8. Jump up^Nat Segaloff (2011).Arthur Penn: American Director. University Press of Kentucky.ISBN9780813129815.9. Jump up^Bernard Weinraub (August 24, 2000)."Rare Vote for Experience Over Youth".The New York Times. RetrievedSeptember 30,2010.10. Jump up^Penn's battle with pneumoniaExternal links[edit] Arthur Pennat theInternet Broadway Database Arthur Pennat theInternet Off-Broadway Database Arthur Pennat theInternet Movie Database Arthur Penn at Senses of Cinema Looking Back at Arthur Penn slideshow byThe New York Times Literature on Arthur Penn Arthur Penn interview videoat theArchive of American TelevisionPrecededbyFrank CorsaroArtistic Director of theActors Studio19951998SucceededbyEstelle Parsons

[show] v t eTony Award for Best Direction of a Play(19471975)

[show] v t eFilms directed byArthur Penn

Authority control WorldCat VIAF:27116176 LCCN:n79090078 ISNI:0000 0001 2277 6959 GND:120429349 SUDOC:030814111 BNF:cb122153690(data)

Categories: 1922 births 2010 deaths Actors Studio members American film directors American film producers American television producers American Jews People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Bard College faculty Tony Award winners American military personnel of World War II