A man of theater, film, television and culture: Arthur Penn is dead

A man of theater, film, television and culture: Arthur Penn is dead

Revolutionary theater, television and film director Arthur Penn died Tuesday at his home in New York City, just one day after celebrating his 88th birthday. The The New York Times reports that the director, perhaps most well-known for 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde," passed away from congestive heart failure.

The Times calls Penn "a pioneering director of live television drama in the 1950s and a Broadway powerhouse in the 1960s," and praises his ability to develop an "intimate, spontaneous and physically oriented method of directing actors that allowed their work to register across a range of mediums."

Penn was born on September 27, 1922, in Philadelphia. He began his career in television and made a name for himself in 1957 with the production of "The Miracle Worker," adapted from the stage for television on CBS' "Playhouse 90," for which he earned an Emmy nomination.

Two years later, Penn took "The Miracle Worker" to Broadway, and he and star Anne Bancroft were awarded Tonys. In 1962, he directed the feature-film version with Bancroft, who went on to win the Oscar for Best Actress, alongside a young Patty Duke, who picked up a statue for Best Supporting Actress.

Penn also advised then-Senator John F. Kennedy during his debates with Richard Nixon in 1960 and directed the broadcast of the third debate.

All of these events led up to his most memorable work, directing Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie and Clyde"


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Audio tribute on NPR's All Things Considered, click here.

His films include "Little Big Man", "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Miracle Worker" and many others, as reported on IMDB.

Arthur Penn and Melanie Griffith on the set of "Night Moves" in 1975

Photo: Alan Band/Keystone/Getty Images