'Bonnie and Clyde' director Arthur Penn dies at 88
NEW YORK (AP) — Director Arthur Penn, a myth-maker and myth-breaker who in such classics as "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Little Big Man," refashioned movie and American history and sealed a generation's affinity for outsiders, died Tuesday night, a day after his 88th birthday.
Daughter Molly Penn said her father died at his home, in Manhattan, of congestive heart failure. Longtime friend and business manager Evan Bell said Wednesday that Penn had been ill for about a year. A memorial service would be held before the end of the year. Penn's older brother was photographer Irving Penn, who died in October 2009.
Penn's older brother was photographer Irving Penn, who died in October 2009.
After first making his name on Broadway as director of the Tony Award-winning plays "The Miracle Worker" and "All the Way Home," Penn rose as a film director in the 1960s, his work inspired by the decade's political and social upheaval, and Americans' interest in their past and present.
"Bonnie and Clyde," with its mix of humor and mayhem, encouraged moviegoers to sympathize with the lawbreaking couple from the 1930s, while "Little Big Man" told the tale of the conquest of the West with the Indians as the good guys.
"A society would be wise to pay attention to the people who do not belong if it wants to find out ... where it's failing," Penn once said.
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