On September 28, acclaimed Director and former DGA Board Member Arthur Penn passed away. Upon hearing of his death, DGA President Taylor Hackford issued the following statement:
"Arthur was a member of the Directors Guild of America for 53 years. Our Guild family has suffered a profound loss with his passing.
"We will remember Arthur not only for his brilliant films, but for the prominent role he played in the Guild at an important time in DGA history. As a National Board Member and member of the Eastern Directors Council, Arthur was crucial in reinvigorating member participation on the East Coast. He was a teacher and a mentor, and his wise counsel meant a great deal to students and his fellow filmmakers.
"A daring and innovative filmmaker, Arthur's influence on cinema through legendary films like Mickey One and Bonnie and Clyde inspired a generation, introducing American audiences to a vibrant style of filmmaking that broke the mold of films that had come before. For his invaluable contributions to the art of directing, Arthur received the DGA Honors Filmmaker Award in 2006."
During his acceptance speech at the 2006 DGA Honors ceremony, Penn thanked the DGA for selecting him and said, "You are a tough group and to be singled out for the influence my films have exerted on American cinema is a source of considerable pleasure to me and I am profoundly grateful." Then reminiscing about his career, Penn said he had one unfulfilled ambition: "I wish I had been bolder. Too often I censored myself. That's a terrible thing. It's the very obverse of creating. To you on the edge of your careers as filmmakers 'don't hold back.' Let us see your human secret. It's your gold: share it."
Penn joined the DGA in 1957. He served on the National Board of Directors from 1997-1999 and was an alternate Board Member from 1999-2003. He also served on the Eastern Directors Council from 2000-2002.
Penn's long and varied career in film, television and theater was often said to have laid the groundwork for many seminal filmmakers that followed. His works include numerous episodes of the acclaimed television anthologies Playhouse 90 and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, as well as the feature films The Left Handed Gun (1958), Alice's Restaurant (1969), Little Big Man (1970), Night Moves (1975), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Four Friends (1981), Dead of Winter (1987) and Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989). He was twice nominated for a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film: in 1962 for The Miracle Worker and again in 1967 for Bonnie and Clyde.
