Eileen Ryan

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title: "Eileen Ryan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1927-births", "2022-deaths", "20th-century-american-actresses", "21st-century-american-actresses", "american-film-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "american-people-of-irish-descent", "actresses-from-the-bronx", "burials-at-holy-cross-cemetery,-culver-city", "penn-family-(show-business)"] description: "American actress (1927–2022)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Ryan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1927–2022) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Eileen Ryan
image	Howard Duff Eileen Ryan Twilight Zone.JPG
caption	With Howard Duff in "A World of Difference" from The Twilight Zone, 1960
birth_name	Eileen Annucci
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Malibu, California, U.S.
resting_place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, U.S.
spouse
children
relatives	Dylan Penn (granddaughter)
Hopper Penn (grandson)
occupation	Actress
years_active	1955–2016
::

| name = Eileen Ryan | image = Howard Duff Eileen Ryan Twilight Zone.JPG | caption = With Howard Duff in "A World of Difference" from The Twilight Zone, 1960 | birth_name = Eileen Annucci | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Malibu, California, U.S. | resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, U.S. | spouse = | children = | relatives = Dylan Penn (granddaughter) Hopper Penn (grandson) | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1955–2016

Eileen Ryan (; October 16, 1927 – October 9, 2022) was an American actress. The wife of actor and director Leo Penn, she was the mother of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, and of singer Michael Penn.

Life and career

Ryan was born in the Bronx on October 16, 1927. Her father, William, was Italian American and worked as a lawyer and a dentist; her mother, Rose Isabel (née Ryan), was Irish American and employed as a nurse, with her maiden name later chosen by Eileen to be part of her stage name. Ryan studied at New York University, graduating with a bachelor's degree.

Career

Ryan debuted on Broadway in 1953, in the play Sing Till Tomorrow. Five years later, she featured in another Broadway production, Comes a Day. Both plays were ultimately short-lived. She began to reduce her involvement in acting in order to look after her young family, which later relocated to the West Coast. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ryan periodically had small roles in television shows, such as The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, and others directed by her husband Leo Penn.

Ryan resumed acting on a more frequent basis in 1986, when she appeared with her sons Sean and Chris in At Close Range as the brothers' grandmother. She subsequently featured as the mother of Sean Penn's character in Judgment in Berlin (1988), which was directed by her husband. She also starred in Parenthood a year later opposite Jason Robards – whose withdrawal from his role in The Iceman Cometh over three decades earlier enabled Ryan to meet her future husband – before making an appearance in The Crossing Guard (1995), which her son Sean directed. Two years later, she went back to the stage in the play Remembrance, acting alongside her husband in a production by Sean Penn at the Odyssey Theater. Her final role was in the 2016 film Rules Don't Apply.

Personal life

Ryan married Leo Penn in 1957. They met the year before while she was performing in The Iceman Cometh at the Circle in the Square Theatre. At the time, he was an actor and active union member, who was blacklisted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. They remained married for over 40 years until his death in 1998. Together, they had three children. One of them, Chris, predeceased her in 2006.

When American singer Madonna was married to her son Sean, she said "My mother-in-law is the only woman I know who makes me feel completely intimidated."

Death

Ryan died on October 9, 2022, at her home in Malibu, California, a week before her 95th birthday.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1957	Three in One	Mrs. Johnson	Segment: "The Load of Wood"
1986	At Close Range	Grandma		url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/eileen-ryan
1988	Judgment in Berlin	Gerta X		url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/167764%7C0/Eileen-Ryan#filmography
1989	Winter People	Annie Wright
1989	Parenthood	Marilyn Buckman
1991	**	Mrs. Baker
1993	Benny & Joon	Mrs. Smail
1995	**	Woman in Shop		url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba79b3c36
1999	Anywhere but Here	Lillian
1999	Magnolia	Mary
2001	**	Jean
2001	I Am Sam	Estelle
2002	Eight Legged Freaks	Gladys
2004	**	Marie's mother
2005	Feast	Grandma
2006	All the King's Men	Lily Littlepaugh
2009	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	Gloria		title=Eileen Ryan List of Movies and TV Shows
2009	Mother and Child	Nora
2010	Venus & Vegas	Estelle
2011	Collaborator	Betty
2016	Rules Don't Apply	Frank's Grandmother
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1955	Goodyear Television Playhouse	Alma	"Mr. Dorothy Allen"
1957	Westinghouse Studio One	Betsy Fuller	"The Defender: Parts 1 & 2"
1959	DuPont Show of the Month		"The Human Comedy"	--
1959	Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond	Mrs. Horvath	"Make Me Not a Witch"
1960	**	Nora Reagan	"A World of Difference"
1960	**		"With Glory and Honor"
1960	**	Mrs. Sharman	"Little Girl Lost"
1961	**	Mrs. Coil	"Song of the Guilty Heart"
1961	**	Miss Spencer	"The Man Who Wanted Everything Perfect"	--
1961	**	Anna Ashmond	"The Last Way Out"	title=Sean Penn's Mom Eileen Ryan Has Died
1961	Outlaws	Ruth Lopez	"No Luck on Friday"
1961	Bonanza	Amanda Gates	"Land Grab"
1962	Bonanza	Abigail Jones	"The Wooing of Abigail Jones"	title=Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life
1962	Ben Casey	Laura Walton	"Give My Hands an Epitaph"
1962	Tales of Wells Fargo	Lorry	"End of a Minor God"
1972	Bonanza	Emily	"First Love"	title=A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personnel and Broadcast History
1973	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Shirley Cooper	"Catch a Ring That Isn't There"
1973	Cannon		"Press Pass to the Slammer"
1974	Little House on the Prairie	Mrs. Kennedy	"The Voice of Tinker Jones"
1986	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Bag Lady	"Babies Having Babies"	url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6f0b0623
1990	Christine Cromwell		"Only the Good Die Young"
1992	Matlock	Lily Wyckoff	"The Picture: Part 2"
1993	It's Nothing Personal		TV film
1996	ER	Barbara Dean	"True Lies"
1996	NYPD Blue	Mrs. Treet	"He's Not Guilty, He's My Brother"
1999	Ally McBeal	Bria Tolson	"In Dreams"
2000	Arliss	Maddie Crowley	"Last Call"
2001	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mrs. Rose Bennett	"To Halve and to Hold"
2003	**		"Tough Love"
2005	Without a Trace	Maura O'Connell	"Transitions"
2011	Men of a Certain Age		"And Then the Bill Comes"
2011	Private Practice	Marion	"Something Old, Something New"
2011	Prime Suspect	Susan Whitney	"Bitch"
2014	Grey's Anatomy	Marjorie Reed	"Puzzle with a Piece Missing"
2014	Getting On	Mrs. Roth	"No Such Thing as Idealized Genitalia"
::

References

References

1. Genzlinger, Neil. (October 11, 2022). "Eileen Ryan, Actress of Stage and Screen, Dies at 94". [[The New York Times]].
2. Kelly, Richard T.. (2011). "Sean Penn: Die autorisierte Biografie". Riva Verlag.
3. Kelly, Richard T. [https://www.amazon.com/Sean-Penn-His-Life-Times/dp/1841956236 ''Sean Penn: His Life and Times'']. Canongate U.S. 2004. {{ISBN. 1-84195-623-6.
4. (October 11, 2022). "TV and film actor Eileen Ryan, Sean Penn's mother, dies". Associated Press.
5. (July 5, 1986). "Never-Retiring Eileen Ryan Is out of Retirement". Los Angeles Times.
6. "The Crossing Guard (1995)". British Film Institute.
7. Oliver, Myrna (1998) for the ''Los Angeles Times''. [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1998-09-12-9809110546-story.html "Lep Penn, 77, Actor and Notable Director"], obituary, archives of the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'' (Deerfield Beach, Florida), September 12, 1998. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
8. (2016). "New York State of Fame". Page Publishing Inc.
9. (October 10, 2022). "Eileen Ryan, Actress and Mother of Sean Penn, Dies at 94".
10. (October 10, 2022). "Eileen Ryan Dies: Actor, Mother Of Sean, Christopher & Michael Penn Was 94". Deadline.
11. Williams, Deane. (2008). "Australian Post-war Documentary Film: An Arc of Mirrors". [[Intellect Books]].
12. "Eileen Ryan".
13. "Eileen Ryan". American Film Institute.
14. "Eileen Ryan – Filmography". Turner Classic Movies.
15. "Eileen Ryan". British Film Institute.
16. "Eileen Ryan List of Movies and TV Shows".
17. (1955). "Radio Daily/Television Daily". Radio Daily Corporation.
18. Muir, John Kenneth. (June 21, 2010). "An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959–1961". McFarland.
19. (1962). "Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life". Cue Publishing Company.
20. Levine, Daniel S.. (October 10, 2022). "Sean Penn's Mom Eileen Ryan Has Died". Pop Culture Media.
21. "No Luck on Friday (1961)". British Film Institute.
22. (1962). "Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life". Cue Publishing Company.
23. (2001). "A Reference Guide to Television's ''Bonanza'': Episodes, Personnel and Broadcast History". McFarland.
24. Williams, Deane. (November 17, 2015). "The Cinema of Sean Penn: In and Out of Place". Columbia University Press.
25. Gianakos, Larry James. (1992). "Television Drama Series Programming: A Comprehensive Chronicle, 1984–1986". Scarecrow Press.
26. "Watch Prime Suspect Episode: Bitch". NBC.

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