Happy Birthday, Arthur Penn! Born today in 1922 as Arthur Hiller Penn, this American producer and director of film, television and theater was closely associated with the American New Wave, and had directed critically acclaimed films throughout the 1960s.
Born to a Russian Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Penn was the younger brother of American photographer Irving Penn, known for his fashion photography, portraits and still lifes.
At nineteen, Penn 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 older, he became increasingly interested in film, especially after seeing Orson Welles' 1941 American black and white drama/mystery film 'Citizen Kane'.
Post-graduation, Penn married American film and television actress Peggy Maurer. They later had a son and a daughter together. Penn and Maurer would remain married until her husband's death.
Of their children, the most notable is Matthew. He would later become a director and producer of television and theatre.
After making a name for himself as a director of quality television dramas, Arthur made his feature directorial debut in 1958.
The following year, Penn directed American playwright and novelist William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker" for the stage.
The three-act play had been adapted from Gibson's titular 1957 teleplay from the American black and white television anthology drama series Playhouse 90 (1956–1960). It was also based on Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography The Story of my Life.
The production featured Anne Bancroft as American teacher Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke as the blind, deaf and consequently mute Helen Keller.
Two years later, Penn directed the play to film. This was with the 1962 American black and white biographical drama/adaptation film 'The Miracle Worker'. For the feature, Bancroft and Duke reprised their roles.
One year later, 'The Miracle Worker' garnered two Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Anne Bancroft) and for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Patty Duke). This occurred at the 35th Academy Awards in early April 1963.
Four years later, Penn directed the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1967 American biographical drama/true crime film 'Bonnie and Clyde'.
Penn had put the film into production after it had been rejected by over a dozen producers.
The film had been co-written by American screenwriter and film director Robert Benton ('Kramer vs. Kramer'). This was his first screenwriting credit.
'Bonnie and Clyde' is considered one of the first films of the New Hollywood era and a landmark film. It broke many cinematic taboos and for some members of the counterculture, the film was considered to be a "rallying cry."
Its success prompted other filmmakers to be more open in presenting sex and violence in their films. The ending of 'Bonnie and Clyde' became iconic as "one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history.
The film starred Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker.
It also featured Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons and Gene Wilde in his first film appearance. On a budget of $2.5 million, the film went on to gross $70 million at the box office.
The following year, 'Bonnie and Clyde' was nominated for eight Oscars but only received two. This was for Best Supporting Actress (Estelle Parsons) and Best Cinematography. This occurred at the 40th Academy Awards in mid-April 1968.
Two years later, Penn directed the second and final film of which he is best known. This was the 1970 American Western/drama film 'Little Big Man'. It had been based on American novelist Thomas Berger's titular 1964 picaresque Western fiction novel.'
In 1970, a curious oral historian (William Hickey) turns up to hear the life story of 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), he can scarcely believe his ears.
Crabb tells of having been rescued and raised by the Cheyenne, of working as a snake-oil salesman, as a gunslinger, and as a mule skinner under Gen. Custer (Richard Mulligan).
As if those weren't astonishing enough, he also claims to be the only white survivor of the infamous Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The film is a revisionist Western: Native Americans are depicted sympathetically, and the United States Cavalry are depicted as villains. The revision uses elements of satire and tragedy to examine prejudice and injustice.
'Little Big Man' is an anti-establishment film of the period, indirectly protesting America's involvement in the Vietnam War by portraying the United States Armed Forces negatively.
In the 1980s, Penn's career began to lose its momentum with critics and audiences. He later returned to work in television, including an executive producer role for the American police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order (1990–2010).
In 1992, 'Bonnie and Clyde' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
On AFI's 1001 Years...100 Quotes list, "We rob banks." ranked in at #41.
Throughout the years, Penn had maintained an affiliation with Yale University, occasionally teaching classes there.
Penn passed from congestive heart failure in Manhattan, New York City, New York on September 28, 2010. This was according to his daughter Molly. Penn was 88, and had passed a day after his birthday.
Over the years, 'Bonnie and Clyde' repeatedly has been honored by the American Film Institute:
1998 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #27
2001 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #13
2002 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #65
2003 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains
Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker – #32 Villains
2005 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes
"We rob banks." – #41
2007 – AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #42
2008 – AFI's 10 Top 10 – #5 Gangster Film
In 2014, 'Little Big Man' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Once the vanguard of 1960s-1970s Hollywood New Wave, Penn saw his cinematic fortunes decline with the mid-1970s rise of more straightforward blockbuster entertainment.
Nonetheless, even as he struggled through the 1980s and 1990s, however, his legacy was assured by a few critically praised features.
Penn proved himself a true triple threat during his career, achieving extraordinary success as a director of live television dramas, Broadway plays and feature films.
Like Sidney Lumet and John Frankenheimer, he owed a huge debt to the crucible of television's Golden Age, but it was director Elia Kazan he resembled most in his sympathy for actors, the flights of fancy he allowed, and the incredible range of expression he elicited.
Penn understood the poetry of close-up camera work, acknowledging that words were to the theater what actions were for film. His use of lighting and sound were stylistically and intellectually sophisticated, but ultimately it was his themes which propelled his pictures.
No other director during the volatile 1960s had his finger so securely on America's pulse, and audiences responded enthusiastically to his exploration of the relationship between outsiders and mainstream society, even though his sympathies always seemed to lie invariably with the outcasts.
Penn had been active from 1953–2001.
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