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Leo Penn Biography (1921-1998)

Born August 27, 1921, in Lawrence, MA; died of lung cancer September 5, 1998,in Santa Monica, CA; married Eileen Ryan (an actress); children: Sean (an actor and director), Chris (an actor), Michael (a musician). Career: Actor, director, and screenwriter. Paramount, contract actor, 1945. Militaryservice: Army Air Corps, World War II. Awards, Honors: Theatre World Award, 1954, for The Girl on Via Flaminia; Emmy Award, best director of a drama series, 1973, for "Any Port in a Storm," Columbo; Emmy Award nomination, best director of a drama series, 1983, for "Old Hatreds Die Hard," Mississippi..

In the 1940s and 1950s Penn was blacklisted in Hollywood which led to his career change from actor to director.

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Occupation

actor, director, screenwriter

Birth Details

August 27, 1921

Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States

Death Details

September 5, 1998

Santa Monica, California, United States

Famous Works

• CREDITS
• Film Appearances
• Steve Ryan, Not Wanted (also known as Shame and Streetsof Sin), Kino On Video, 1949
• Sidney Gordon, The Undercover Man, Columbia, 1949
• Morrie Goetz, The Story on Page One, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1959
• Eddie Kassellis, Birdman of Alcatraz, United Artists, 1962
• Doc, Sixth and Main, National Cinema, 1977
• Tom's Dad, The Wild Life, Universal, 1984
• Hank, The Crossing Guard, Miramax, 1995
• Film Director
• A Man Called Adam, Embassy, 1966
• Judgement in Berlin (also known as Escape to Freedom), NewLine Cinema, 1988
• Television Director
• Movies
• Wipe-out, 1963
• Quarantined (also known as House on the Hill), 1970
• Columbo: The Conspirators, NBC, 1978
• Murder in Music City (also known as The Country-Western Murders), NBC, 1979
• Hellinger's Law, CBS, 1981
• Columbo: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine, ABC, 1989
• Only the Good Die Young, ABC, 1990
• Kill or Be Killed, NBC, 1990
• Matlock: The Picture, NBC, 1991
• Matlock: The Fortune, NBC, 1992
• Matlock: The Heist, ABC, 1995
• Miniseries
• (With Larry Yust) Testimony of Two Men, syndicated, 1977
• The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, NBC, 1978
• Episodic
• Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, ABC, 1971
• Cannon, CBS, 1971
• Ghost Story (also known as Circle of Fear), NBC, 1972
• "Any Port in a Storm," Columbo, NBC, 1973
• The New Adventures of Perry Mason, CBS, 1973
• Barnaby Jones, CBS, 1973
• Movin' On, NBC, 1974
• Lucas Tanner, NBC, 1974
• "Ma's Holiday," Little House on the Prairie, NBC, 1974
• "The Voice of Tinker Jones," Little House on the Prairie, NBC, 1974
• "Money Crop," Little House on the Prairie, NBC, 1975
• Doctors' Hospital, NBC, 1975
• Switch, CBS, 1975
• The Blue Knight, CBS and syndicated, 1975
• Sara, CBS, 1976
• The Bionic Woman, ABC and NBC, 1976
• What Really Happened to the Class of '65?, NBC, 1977
• Westside Medical, ABC, 1977
• Kaz, CBS, 1978
• Trapper John, M.D., CBS, 1979
• Little Women, NBC, 1979
• Kate Loves a Mystery, NBC, 1979
• Hart to Hart, ABC, 1979
• Eishcied, NBC, 1979
• Magnum, P.I., CBS, 1980
• Mr. Merlin, CBS, 1981
• The Gangster Chronicles, NBC, 1981
• Father Murphy, NBC, 1981
• Concrete Cowboys, CBS, 1981
• Bret Maverick, NBC, 1981
• Remington Steele, NBC, 1982
• Cagney & Lacey, CBS, 1982
• "Old Hatreds Die Hard," Mississippi, CBS, 1983
• Boone, NBC, 1983
• Paper Dolls, ABC, 1984
• The New Mike Hammer, CBS, 1984
• Matlock, NBC, 1986
• In the Heat of the Night, NBC, 1988-92
• Diagnosis Murder, CBS, 1993
• Also directed episodes of Bonanza; Ben Casey; The Fugitive; Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; Lost in Space (also known as Space Family Robinson); I Spy; Star Trek; TheGirl from U.N.C.L.E.; Judd, for the Defense; Gunsmoke (alsoknown as Marshall Dillon); Marcus Welby, M.D. (also known as Robert Young, Family Doctor); Cade's County; The Girl with Something Extra; Starsky & Hutch; Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected; Fame; and St. Elsewhere.
• Special
• The 13th Day: The Story of Esther, ABC, 1979
• Television Appearances
• Episodic
• "Justice and Mr. Pleznik," The Philco Television Playhouse, NBC, 1951
• Milton Tannenbaum, "The Tommy Karpeles Story," The Untouchables, ABC, 1960
• Dr. David McMillan, "From Too Much Love of Living," Ben Casey, ABC, 1963
• Father Fitzgerald, "The Priest," Matlock, NBC, 1989
• Spaulding, "The Trial: Parts I & II," Matlock, NBC, 1991
• Russ Lewis, "The Competition," Matlock, ABC, 1993
• Leo Popper, Diagnosis Murder, CBS, 1995
• Other
• Jerry Green, The Gertrude Berg Show (also known as Mrs. G Goesto College; series), 1961
• Mr. Donnelly, North Beach and Rawhide (miniseries), 1985
• Leo Hawkins, The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (movie),1986
• Stage Appearances
• Hickey, The Iceman Cometh, Circle in the Square Theatre, New YorkCity, 1957
• Remembrance, Odyssey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, 1997
• Made New York debut in Dinosaur Wharf, 1951; also appeared in Maya, School for Scandal, The Girl on Via Flaminia, A View from the Bridge, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Of Mice and Men.
• Stage Work
• Directed an Off-Broadway play.
• WRITINGS
• Screenplays
• Judgement in Berlin (also known as Escape to Freedom), NewLine Cinema, 1988

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

• New York Times, September 10, 1998, .
• People, September 28, 1998, p. 105.*