RIP: Chris Penn

[Menard]

Character actor and brother of Sean Penn, Chris Penn, has died at the young age of 43.

Chris has portrayed a number of memorable roles from his start in the early 80s in such films as Rumble Fish, Footloose, and All the Right Moves. He was memorable in roles in films such as Best of the Best and won critical acclaim for his role in Reservoir Dogs. His more recent work includes roles in films such as Starsky & Hutch, voiceovers, and television roles like that in The Botherhood of Poland, New Hampshire.

Not as well known as his brother, Sean, nonetheless, Chris always showed that he was just as talented, only more likeable.

He was found dead in his home. No reports yet of the exact cause of death, but preliminary reports are saying they do not suspect foul play, nor is there any evidence, as yet, which points to anything other than natural causes.

A young man has passed away and will be missed.

[Ash]

I've been watching him in movies for years but I just learned a couple of months ago that he was Sean Penn's brother.
I never noticed the resemblance.  I just figured they had the same name but weren't related.

I wondered lately about his health and especially his weight in some of the last few things I've seen him in.
His weight was getting so high that I thought he literally looked like he was about to burst...especially in the more recent Starsky & Hutch.

If you watch HBO's Entourage, he guest starred in an episode playing himself.
In that episode, he's sparring in a boxing ring and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon's character) talks s**t to him and makes jokes about his weight.
Then Drama gets in the ring and Penn whomps all over him.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. dude.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I just heard this.  Damn that sucks.  Chris was always my favorite over Sean.  I felt he chose the better, albeit smaller, parts and was a damn fine actor.  I was actually just watching True Romance yesterday and was thinking how good he was.  

RIP Chris.  You'll be missed.

[ulthar]

Loss of another favorite.  One I really liked him in (as a Bad Movie fan) was Fast Times wannabe

The Wild Life

RIP.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I remember I saw him recently when I rented Fist Of the Northstar movie.

R.I.P.

[Neville]

He'd always pop up in the most unexpected places, like the first "Rush Hour" or "Starsky & Hutch", but he always defended his parts, mediocre as they often were, as if they were the best he'd ever been in. There are not many competent character actors these days, and he sure was one of the best.

I imagine he's had some sort of heart attack, he's always been chubby, but still he was very young.

[dean]

Damn, he was by far my favourite out of the Penn brothers [Sean just annoys me] and he was enjoyable in all his roles, regardless of how small they were.

[Neon Noodle]

Yeah, I will definitely miss Mr. Penn. It totally threw me when I tried to remember an early role when he was skinny - check out Footloose, he stars opposite Kevin Bacon. Totally different person from the recent Chris Penn.

Reservior Dogs was also one of my favorites, he played Nice Guy Eddie.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Neon Noodle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I will definitely miss Mr. Penn. It totally
> threw me when I tried to remember an early role
> when he was skinny


Try Pale Rider with Eastwood.  I only just saw it a few years ago and couldn't believe that he was skinny.

[Neville]

Pale Rider! That's a good one. Couldn't even remember he was in that one. He was soooo young... Looked like on his late teens there.

[LH-C]

Hi guys - haven't posted in months.

Chris' death came as a shock to me, in a way. I mean because there are a lot of other guys his size that don't up and die at age 40. He was just a great actor - I think of all of his early movies like 'Footloose', 'Wildlife', 'At Close Range', 'Pale Rider', etc. it's hard to believe that the characters he played were all played by him. IMHO, he began his career as a character actor and stayed a character actor.