Eileen Ryan (born Eileen Annucci) was an American actress. She was also best known as the widow of actor and director Leo Penn, and the mother of actors Sean Penn, Chris Penn, and singer Michael Penn.
She was born on October 16, 1927 and died on October 9, 2022 at age 94, 7 days to her 95th birthday.
For 41 years, Eileen was married to actor and director Leo Penn, whom she met in New York in 1957 at rehearsals for the play “The Iceman Cometh.”
They got married shortly after meeting and remained married until Leo’s death in 1998.
Eileen also appeared on Broadway in “Sing Till Tomorrow” from 1953 to 1954 and then again in 1958 for “Comes a Day.”
Throughout her illustrious career, she appeared in over 60 movies and television shows.
However, her well-known films include;
- “Feast” (2005),
- “Parenthood” (1989),“Eight Legged Freaks” (2002),
- “Magnolia” (1999) and
- “All the King’s Men” (2006).
The legendary actress also appeared in several of her sons’ projects, including “At Close Range” (1986), “I Am Sam” (2001), “The Indian Runner” (1991) and “The Crossing Guard” (1995).