Arthur Penn

This is the hardback edition. First published to acclaim in 2011, Arthur Penn: American Director is the first biography of the acclaimed director of The Miracle Worker, Little Big Man, Alice’s Restaurant, The Chase, Mickey One, The Missouri Breaks, and, of course, the motion picture that fired the first shot in the Film Revolution, Bonnie and Clyde. Born in Philadelphia to immigrant parents in 1922 and raised in Dickensian circumstances, Penn (and his older brother, Irving, who became the innovative fashion photographer) found himself behind the German lines at the Battle of the Bulge, a student in the formative years of Black Mountain College, in the director’s seat at the beginning of the Golden Age of television, and at the blossoming of the Actors Studio, all of which influenced his filmmaking. Arthur Penn: American Director charts his personal and artistic odyssey. Written with Penn’s intimate participation, it was completed days before his death in 2010. It features interviews with dozens of his collaborators and is being brought back into print by Bear Manor Media with an all-new Afterword containing tributes by his peers and a stunning revelation about the mysterious woman who educated young Arthur in the arts. NAT SEGALOFF has written and/or produced biographies of William Friedkin, Harlan Ellison, Stirling Silliphant, John Belushi, Stan Lee, Larry King, Walon Green, Paul Mazursky, and Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop. He lives in Los Angeles where he has given up expecting people to return his phone calls.