Penn, Arthur Hiller

Penn, Arthur Hiller, 1922–, American director, brother of Irving Penn, b. Philadelphia; studied Black Mountain College and the Actors' Studio, Los Angeles. Penn, who often deals with themes of alienation in American life, began directing for television during the late 1940s. His Broadway credits include Two for the Seesaw (1958), The Miracle Worker (1959, Tony Award; film, 1962), and Toys in the Attic (1960). His first film, The Left-Handed Gun (1958), a psychologically probing study of Billy the Kid, was also an adaptation of a television drama. Penn's masterpiece, Bonnie and Clyde (1967), is a darkly brilliant study of the Depression-era outlaws that combines high drama with comedy, social comment, and extreme violence. Displaying an offbeat take on several screen genres, his other movies include Micky One (1965), Alice's Restaurant (1969), Little Big Man (1960), Night Moves (1975), and The Missouri Breaks (1976). Among his later, less commercially successful films are Four Friends (1981), Dead of Winter (1987), and Inside (1996).