Arthur Penn Biography
Arthur Penn was born in Philadelphia in 1922 and spent his childhood marked by his parents' divorce, then moving to New York after his father's death. After joining the Army during World War II, he began working with the Army Theater Company and director Joshua Logan.
Returning to the United States, he received his diploma in acting in 1946 and in 1951 was hired by NBC to appear on the Colgate comedy hour alongside stars such as Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor and Denny Thomas. In 1953 he began directing live television dramas for the Philco television playhouse series, which were highly successful.
In the following years he worked for several television series such as Producer's showcase, Goodyear television playhouse and Playwrights. In 1957 he moved to CBS, where he directed the series Playhouse 90.
In 1958 he made his debut as a theater director on Broadway with Two for the Seesaw by W. Gibson, which was a great success. He then directed shows such as The Miracle Worker (1959) and All the Way Home (1960), which earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Best Director.
In 1958 he made his debut as a film director with The left-handed gun, a western that innovatively portrayed the character of Billy the Kid. In 1967 he directed another fundamental film in the history of cinema, Bonnie and Clyde, whose style of physical violence and realism influenced the new Hollywood production of the Seventies.
After a period of theatrical activity, Penn returned to film direction with Four friends in 1981, a film that explored the relationship between History and private history and which offered a generational insight into American society.
Arthur Penn used cinema, television and theater as a means to investigate the contradictions of contemporary American society, revealing the responsibility of role-playing directors/narrators. He dedicated much of his career to the themes of the Actors Studio, which he reread and interpreted, becoming one of its most representative directors.
