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Veteran actress Eileen Ryan, mother to actor Sean Penn, dead at 94

No details on the cause of death were immediately given. Ryan would have turned 95 on October 16.
Eileen Ryan actress dead
Posted at 8:34 PM, Oct 10, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-10 20:39:05-04

Veteran actress Eileen Ryan died Sunday at her home at the age of 94, according to a statement shared by a publicist for her son, actor Sean Penn.

Ryan died just before her 95th birthday on Oct. 16.

No other details were immediately given on the circumstances surrounding Ryan's death.

In her decades-long acting career, she appeared in more than 60 television shows and films, including "Magnolia" in 1999 and "I Am Sam" in 2001.

Ryan's other acting credits include an appearance in "The Twilight Zone" in 1960 and the hit TV shows "E.R.," "Ally McBeal, and "NYPD Blue."

Deadline notes that Ryan also appeared on Broadway in 1953's "Sing Till Tomorrow" and "Comes a Day" in 1958.

CNN reported that Ryan, born Eileen Annucci, married her late husband, director Leo Penn, after the two met in New York at rehearsals in 1957.

According to Deadline, they were married just a few months later, and their union lasted for 41 years until her husband died in 1998.

Ryan is the matriarch of the Hollywood family that includes her son Sean Penn and his brother Michael Penn, a singer for the 80's hit song "No Myth."

The family also includes the late actor Chris Penn who appeared in films like "Reservoir Dogs" and "True Romance." He died in 2006.