# Sean Penn's Brother, Chris Penn found dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518 "2006-01-25T05:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/1 "2006-01-25T05:16:48Z")
Just saw this on [CNN.com](http://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_ ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/2 "2006-01-25T05:24:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/3 "2006-01-25T05:32:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/4 "2006-01-25T05:39:21Z")
Bummer. I even enjoyed him as Manilow’s blackmailing road manager on _Will & Grace_. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/5 "2006-01-25T05:39:22Z")
No! I love Chris Penn! ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/6 "2006-01-25T05:42:53Z")
Sadness. I go now to breakdance to my _Footloose_ soundtrack. _Let’s hear it for the boy. Let’s give the boy a hand._ ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/7 "2006-01-25T05:47:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/8 "2006-01-25T06:24:52Z")
Damn, he’s almost exactly my age. That’s freaking me out a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/9 "2006-01-25T06:34:12Z")
Yeah, _At Close Range_ was great. That’s really too bad. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/10 "2006-01-25T08:34:11Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/11 "2006-01-25T08:36:39Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/12 "2006-01-25T08:43:17Z")
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](http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~clee/ch/summaries/sum2-13.html).” 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. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/13 "2006-01-25T09:11:12Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/14 "2006-01-25T09:18:55Z")
So, at the inquest, will they be able to tell us… Who shot Nice Guy Eddie? (Bah, I’m going to hell anyway) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/15 "2006-01-25T09:51:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/16 "2006-01-25T10:05:21Z")
I remember many character parts for him, but the most memorable is in Altman’s _Short Cuts_. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/17 "2006-01-25T11:51:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/18 "2006-01-25T12:32:30Z")
> [@Kolak of Twilo](#): > > I remember many character parts for him, but the most memorable is in Altman’s _Short Cuts_. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/19 "2006-01-25T13:03:59Z")
It’s kind of weird that just last month, in [this thread about Michael Buble’](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=350464&highlight=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. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518/20 "2006-01-25T13:18:25Z")
Nobody saw _Footloose_? He was delightful as the non-able-to-dance boyfriend of Sarah Jessica Parker. Also starred in _Rumblefish_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sean-penns-brother-chris-penn-found-dead/341518.md?page=2)