Penn, Arthur 1922–

PERSONAL

Full name, Arthur Hiller Penn; born September 27, 1922, in Philadelphia, PA; son of Harry (a watch repairer) and Sonia (a nurse; maiden name, Greenberg) Penn; brother of Irving Penn (a photographer); married Peggy Maurer (a therapist), January 27, 1955; children: Matthew (a director), Molly. Education: Attended Black Mountain College, Asheville, NC, 1947-48, and Universities of Perugia and Florence, Italy, 1949-50; studied at Actors Studio; trained for the stage with Michael Chekhov.

Addresses:

Contact—Bell and Co., 535 Fifth Ave., 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017-3610.

Career:

Director, producer, actor, and writer. Worked for a Philadelphia, PA, radio station in the 1940s; Soldiers Show Company, Paris, member of company, 1945; NBC-TV, New York City, worked as a floor manager for Colgate Comedy Hour, c. 1952; associated with Berkshire Theatre, Stockbridge, MA, 1966; Actors Studio, New York City, teacher, president, 1994-2000, president emeritus, 2000—. Black Mountain College, Asheville, NC, faculty member, 1947. Military service: U.S. Army, Infantry, 1943-45.

Awards, Honors:

Grand Prize, Brussels Film Festival, 1958, for The Left-Handed Gun; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best director, 1958, for Two for the Seesaw; Emmy Award nomination, best director of a television program of one hour or more, 1958, and Sylvania Award, television directing, 1959, both for "The Miracle Worker," Playhouse 90; Sylvania Award, television directing, 1959, for Man on a Mountain Top; Drama Critics Circle Award, best musical, 1959, for Fiorello!; Antoinette Perry Award, best director of a dramatic play, 1960, for The Miracle Worker (stage version); Drama Critics Circle Award, best director of a drama, 1960, Toys in the Attic; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best director of a dramatic play, and Drama Critics Circle Award, both 1961, for All the Way Home; OCIC Award of International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisual, San Sebastian International Film Festival, 1962, Academy Award nomination, best director, 1963, and Directors Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding director of a motion picture, 1963, all for The Miracle Worker (film version); nomination for Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival, 1965, for Mickey One; Academy Award nomination, best director, Golden Globe Award nomination, best motion picture director, Directors Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding director of a motion picture, Bodil Award, best non-European film, Film Award nomination, best film from any source, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Golden and Grand Jury Prize, Mar del Plata Film Festival, all 1968, and Kinema Junpo Awards, best foreign language film and best director of a foreign language film, 1969, all for Bonnie and Clyde; Academy Award nomination, best director, and Screen Award nomination (with Venable Herndon), best drama written directly for the screen, Writers Guild of America, both 1970, for Alice's Restaurant; nominations for Golden Laurel Award, best director, Producers Guild of America, 1970 and 1971; special mention for FIPRESCI Prize, Moscow International Film Festival, 1971, for Little Big Man; nomination for Golden Spike, Valladolid International Film Festival, 1996, for Inside; Akira Kurosawa Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1996; Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding drama series, 2001, for Law & Order; Career Achievement Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, 2002; Joseph L. Mankiewicz Excellence in Filmmaking Award, Director's View Film Festival, 2003; Savannah Film and Video Festival Award, outstanding achievement in cinema, 2003; honorary Golden Berlin Bear, Berlin International Film Festival, 2007.

CREDITS

Film Director:

The Left-Handed Gun, Warner Bros., 1958.

The Miracle Worker, United Artists, 1962.

(Uncredited) The Train (also known as John Frankenheimer's "The Train," Le train, and Il treno), 1964.

(And producer) Mickey One, Columbia, 1965.

The Chase, Columbia, 1966.

Bonnie and Clyde (also known as Bonnie and Clyde … Were Killers!), Warner Bros., 1967.

Alice's Restaurant, United Artists, 1969.

Little Big Man, National General, 1970.

"The Highest," Visions of Eight (documentary; also known as Olympic Visions, Muenchen 1972—8 beruehmte Regisseure sehen die Spiele der XX. Olympiade, and Olympiade Muenchen 1972), 1973.

Night Moves, Warner Bros., 1975.

The Missouri Breaks, United Artists, 1976.

(And coproducer) Four Friends (also known as Georgia's Friends), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1981.

Target, Warner Bros., 1985.

Dead of Winter, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1987.

(And producer) Penn & Teller Get Killed (also known as Dead Funny), Warner Bros., 1989.

Lumiere et compagnie (documentary; also known as Lumiere y compania and Lumiere and Company), 1995.

Film Appearances:

Naked in New York (documentary), Fine Line, 1994.

Arthur Penn (documentary), 1995.

In the Shadow of Hollywood (documentary); also known as A l'ombre d'Hollywood), National Film Board of Canada, 2000.

Small man, On a Shoestring (short film), 2004.

Stage Director:

Blue Denim, Westport, CT, 1956.

The Lovers, Broadway production, 1957.

Two for the Seesaw, Haymarket Theatre, London, 1958, then Booth Theatre, New York City, 1958-59.

The Miracle Worker, Playhouse Theatre, New York City, 1959-61.

Toys in the Attic, Hudson Theatre, New York City, 1960-61.

An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, John Golden Theatre, New York City, 1960-61.

All the Way Home, Belasco Theatre, New York City, 1960-61.

In the Counting House, Biltmore Theatre, New York City, 1962.

My Mother, My Father, and Me, Broadway production, 1962-63.

Lorenzo, Plymouth Theatre, New York City, 1963.

Golden Boy (musical), Majestic Theatre, New York City, 1964-66.

Wait Until Dark, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Shubert Theatre, George Abbott Theatre, and Music Box Theatre, all New York City, 1966.

Felix, Broadway production, 1972.

Sly Fox, Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 1976-78.

Golda, Morosco Theatre, New York City, 1977-78.

Monday after the Miracle, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York City, 1982.

Hunting Cockroaches, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1987.

One of the Guys, New York Shakespeare Festival, Estelle R. Newman Theatre, Public Theatre, New York City, 1990.

Fortune's Fool, Music Box Theatre, New York City, then Truglia Theatre, Stamford Center for the Arts, Stamford, CT, both 2002.

Sly Fox, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 2004.

Stage Work; Other:

Executive producer, The Silent Partner, Actors Studio, New York City, 1972.

Television Work; Series:

Director, Playhouse 90, CBS, multiple episodes (including "The Miracle Worker"), 1957-58.

Executive producer, Law & Order, NBC, 2000-2001.

Television Director; Movies:

(And producer) Flesh and Blood, NBC, 1968.

The Portrait (also known as Painting Churches), TNT, 1993.

Inside, 1996.

Television Director; Episodic:

"The Tears of My Sister," Gulf Playhouse (also known as Gulf Playhouse: First Person), NBC, 1953.

"The Lawn Party," Goodyear Television Playhouse (also known as Goodyear Playhouse), 1954.

"Adapt or Die," Philco Television Playhouse (also known as Arena Theatre, The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, and Repertory Theatre), NBC, 1954.

"Beg, Borrow, or Steal," Philco Television Playhouse (also known as Arena Theatre, The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, and Repertory Theatre), NBC, 1954.

"The Fix," 100 Centre Street, Arts and Entertainment, 2001.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Arthur Penn, 1922-: Themes and Variants, 1970.

Hello Actors Studio, 1987.

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies, 1995.

Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval, 1995.

Marlon Brando: The Wild One, AMC, 1996.

"Take Two: Mike Nichols and Elaine May" (also known as "Nichols and May: Take Two"), American Masters, PBS, 1996.

The Moviemakers: Arthur Penn, 1996.M

Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud, 1996.

Searching for Arthur, 1998.

Sammy Davis Jr.: The E! True Hollywood Story, E! Entertainment Television, 2001.

(Uncredited) Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film, AMC, 2002.

AFI's 100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains (also known as AFI's 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains: America's Greatest Screen Characters), CBS, 2003.

"Patty Duke," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 2003.

Edge of Outside, TCM, 2006.

Brando, TCM, 2007.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo, 1994, 1999.

American Cinema, 1995.

Ketzwayo, "The Umpatra," BeastMaster, 1999.

Ketzwayo, "Circle of Life," BeastMaster, 1999.

"Today Is a Good Day: Remembering Chief Dan George," Life and Times, 1999.

"Gene Hackman," Bravo Profiles, Bravo, 2000.

"Brando," Imagine, BBC, 2004.

(In archive footage) Cinema mil, 2005.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

(With William Gibson) The Miracle Worker (adapted from Gibson's television special), United Artists, 1962.

(With Venable Herndon) Alice's Restaurant, United Artists, 1969, published by Doubleday, 1970.

Television Episodes:

Philco Television Playhouse (also known as Arena Theatre, The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, and Repertory Theatre), NBC, 1955—.

Plays:

Fiorello! (musical), 1959.

Other:

Contributor to periodicals.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Cawelti, John, editor, Focus on Bonnie and Clyde, Prentice-Hall, 1973.

Haustrate, Gaston, Arthur Penn, 1986.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors, St. James Press, 1996.

Kolker, Robert, A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman, Oxford University Press, 2000.

Vernaglione, Paolo, Arthur Penn, 1988.

Wood, Robin, Arthur Penn, Studio Vista, 1967, Praeger, 1969.

Zuker, Joel Stewart, Arthur Penn: A Guide to References and Resources, G. K. Hall, 1980.

Periodicals:

American Film, December, 1981.

Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1985.

New York, December 8, 1980.

Playbill, April 30, 2002, pp. 16-17.

Other:

Arthur Penn, 1922-: Themes and Variants (television special), 1970.

Arthur Penn (documentary film), 1995.

The Moviemakers: Arthur Penn (television special), 1996.

Searching for Arthur (television special), 1998.