Just saw this on CNN.com, story is here. Chris Penn isn’t the biggest name, I remember him from Rush Hour and Resevoir Dogs. They didn’t give a cause of death but said an autopsy would be performed. Sean Penn’s publicist issued a statement where Sean Penn requested the media’s respect for the family during this hard time. There were no signs of foul play according to the local police.
Here’s one for Sean Penn. Whether we agree politically or not, you’re a hell of an actor. toasts his drink
NICE GUY EDDIE! Oh no, this sucks. Chris Penn wasn’t a huge star like his brother, but he is in two of my favorite movies ever: Reservoir Dogs (as the gangster Nice Guy Eddie) and True Romance (a much smaller part, where he played one of the cops toward the end). He was also in Best of the Best, a surprisingly good martial arts movie with James Earl Jones and Eric Roberts.
My friends and I ran into him at Martin B. Retting’s in Culver City last May. One of my friends chatted with him at length.
Bummer. I even enjoyed him as Manilow’s blackmailing road manager on Will & Grace.
No!
I love Chris Penn!
Sadness. I go now to breakdance to my Footloose soundtrack. Let’s hear it for the boy. Let’s give the boy a hand.
He was a good, solid character actor. He was especially effective at playing tough guys. Probably his best known role will be Nice Guy Eddie but he also gave a good performance in a movie called At Close Range with his bother Sean (they played brothers in the film) and Christopher Walken. Chris’ last scene in that film is extremely well played and I’ve always thought he was an underrated actor.
RIP, Chris.
Damn, he’s almost exactly my age. That’s freaking me out a bit.
Yeah, At Close Range was great. That’s really too bad.
So far, i haven’t seen a single word anywhere about his turn in Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral; what a movie, what a performance.
I also think its disrespectful to refer to him simply as “Sean Penn’s brother” as he had quite a successsful career on his own.
Truly sad news.
I’m just worried that Lawrence Bender, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and the guy who played Blue will be the next to die.
Somebody had to say it
Such terrible news. Two of my favorite performances of his:
As Tommy Whitewood, the naive half-brother of Brad Whitewood Jr. (Sean Penn) in At Close Range (one of my favorite movies of Sean’s too). Tommy (and his friends) tried to be so tough, and wanted to hang with the big boys, but he had no idea who he was dealing with regarding Brad’s sociopathic father (Christopher Walken). What a sad and tragic character.
As Kevin Fitzpatrick, in an episode of Chicago Hope called “Life Support.” Kevin’s brother needs a heart transplant, but when a donor heart becomes available, the doctors choose another patient instead. Kevin, in anguish and crazy worried that his brother might die, takes doctors hostage and demands that they transplant the heart into his bother. When the doctors impress on Kevin that he’ll be killing the original transplant patient, he shoots himself in the head so that his brother can have his heart. It was one of the most intense, heartwrenching episodes of television we’ve ever seen. Penn’s performance made you really care for Kevin, and understand why he was doing what he was doing. The shock when he shot himself was horrifying.
RIP Chris. You were good.
That’s so, so sad.
Not entirely unpredictable though (he hasn’t looked well for a while, but this isn’t the time to speculate why).
So, at the inquest, will they be able to tell us…
Who shot Nice Guy Eddie?
(Bah, I’m going to hell anyway)
For those of you wondering where you might have heard Chris Penn before, he also played Officer Pulaski, Tenpenny’s Polish lapdog from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He was one of the toughest enemies in the game, on account of his indestructible car. RIP Chris.
I remember many character parts for him, but the most memorable is in Altman’s Short Cuts.
It is disrespectful to refer to him constantly as Sean Pean’s Brother…in this context.
Chris seemed a decent guy.
The publicitiy photo of him used for the news release was just awful.
Yeah, that what I came in to post about. He showed an incredible range of emotion in that part - I went from feeling his misery from Jennifer Jason Leigh’s phone sex job to being scared as hell by the fury he showed when transferring all his frustration into that poor girl’s skull.
We’ve lost a hell of an actor.
It’s kind of weird that just last month, in this thread about Michael Buble’, I mentioned how Buble’ bears a resemblance to Chris Penn.
In addition to the roles already mentioned, I think he stood out as the punk son of the town owner in Eastwood’s Pale Rider back before he gained the weight. He was also prominent (with Christopher Walken again) in The Funeral.
Sad to see him leave us so soon.
Nobody saw Footloose? He was delightful as the non-able-to-dance boyfriend of Sarah Jessica Parker. Also starred in Rumblefish.