Eileen Ryan (; October 16, 1927 – October 9, 2022) was an American actress. The wife of actor and director Leo Penn, she was the mother of actors

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...

and

Chris Penn Christopher Shannon Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006), credited as Chris Penn after 1991, was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cas ...

, and of singer

Michael Penn Michael Daniel Penn (born August 1, 1958) is an American musician, singer, and composer. His 1989 single " No Myth" was a top 20 hit in the US and successful in several other countries. Early life Penn was born in the Greenwich Village neighb ...

Life and career

Ryan was born in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

on October 16, 1927. Her father, William, was Italian American and worked as a lawyer and a dentist; her mother, Rose Isabel (née Ryan), was Irish American and employed as a nurse, with her maiden name later chosen by Eileen to be part of her

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

.Kelly, Richard T
''Sean Penn: His Life and Times''
Canongate U.S. 2004. . Ryan studied at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, graduating with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Career

Ryan debuted on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in 1953, in the play ''Sing Till Tomorrow''. Five years later, she featured in another Broadway production, ''Comes a Day''. Both plays were ultimately short-lived. She began to reduce her involvement in acting in order to look after her young family, which later relocated to the West Coast. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ryan periodically had small roles in television shows, such as ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'', ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

'', and others directed by her husband Leo Penn. Ryan resumed acting on a more frequent basis in 1986, when she appeared with her sons

Sean Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Hiberno-English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name '' Yohanan'' (), Seán ( anglicized as '' Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; a ...

and

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

in ''

At Close Range ''At Close Range'' is a 1986 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by James Foley from a screenplay written by Nicholas Kazan, based on the real life rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Bruce Johnston Sr. which operated during the 1 ...

'' as the brothers' grandmother. She subsequently featured as the mother of Sean Penn's character in '' Judgment in Berlin'' (1988), which was directed by her husband. She also starred in '' Parenthood'' a year later opposite

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accola ...

– whose withdrawal from his role in '' The Iceman Cometh'' over three decades earlier enabled Ryan to meet her future husband – before making an appearance in '' The Crossing Guard'' (1995), which her son Sean directed. Two years later, she went back to the stage in the play ''Remembrance'', acting alongside her husband in a production by Sean Penn at the Odyssey Theater. Her final role was in the 2016 film '' Rules Don't Apply''.

Personal life

Ryan married Leo Penn in 1957.Oliver, Myrna (1998) for the ''Los Angeles Times''
"Lep Penn, 77, Actor and Notable Director"
obituary, archives of the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'' (Deerfield Beach, Florida), September 12, 1998. Retrieved April 15, 2019. They met the year before while she was performing in ''The Iceman Cometh'' at the

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, within the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The current Broadway theater, completed in 1972, i ...

. At the time, he was an actor and active union member, who was

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

ed from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. They remained married for over 40 years until his death in 1998. Together, they had three children. One of them, Chris, predeceased her in 2006. Ryan died on October 9, 2022, at her home in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, at the age of 94.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Eileen 1927 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American television actresses American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Actresses from the Bronx Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Penn family (show business)