Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Arthur Penn

Role / Field:

American filmmaker, theatre director, and producer known for genre-bending works.

Born:

1922-09-27

Died:

2010-09-28

Century / Era:

1922s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, and producer. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee for Best Director, and a Tony Award winner. Among other accolades, he was also nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Penn first achieved prominence as a theatre director, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for The Miracle Worker.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He received similar acclaim and his first Oscar nomination for directing the 1962 film adaptation. His 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde is credited with initiating the New Hollywood movement, by infusing the biographical crime drama with a counterculture sensibility. He achieved similar critical and commercial success directing the comedy Alice's Restaurant (1969) and the revisionist Western Little Big Man (1970), which further reflected that ethos. Penn’s other notable films included the neo-noir Night Moves (1975) and the revisionist Western The Missouri Breaks (1976). In the 1990s, he returned to stage and television direction and production, including an executive producer role for the police procedural series Law & Order.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Penn was...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Aage Bohr — Contemporary (Born in 1922) (1922): Pioneering Danish nuclear physicist, Nobel laureate for atomic structure theory.
• Agostinho Neto — Contemporary (Born in 1922) (1922): Angolan communist revolutionary, poet, and first President of Angola.
• Alain Resnais — Contemporary (Born in 1922) (1922): Pioneering French filmmaker exploring memory, consciousness, and narrative structure.
• Alexander McQueen — Contemporary (Died in 2010) (2010): Iconic British fashion designer known for theatrical, boundary-pushing collections.
• Ali Hassan al-Majid — Contemporary (Died in 2010) (2010): Notorious Iraqi military figure, cousin of Saddam Hussein, known for brutal repression.
• Allan Sandage — Contemporary (Died in 2010) (2010): Pioneering American astronomer known for determining the Hubble constant and age of the universe.
• Aimee Semple McPherson — Shared historical date (09-27 · Died) (1944): Pioneering Pentecostal evangelist, famous for founding the Foursquare Church.
• Albert Ellis — Shared historical date (09-27 · Born) (1913): Pioneering figure in psychotherapy, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
• Alexandre Cabanel — Shared historical date (09-28 · Born) (1823): Prominent French Academic painter, celebrated for historical and mythological subjects.
• Althea Gibson — Shared historical date (09-28 · Died) (2003): Pioneering American tennis and golf star who broke racial barriers in sports.
• 1922 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1922
• September 27 (09-27) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on September 27
• 2010 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 2010
• September 28 (09-28) On This Day — Historical events and memorials on September 28

Frequently Asked Questions about Arthur Penn