Chris Penn Footloose
Christopher Shannon Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006) played Willard Hewitt in Footloose (1984). He was 18 during production.
Willard is one of the film's most loved characters
Penn plays Willard with a mass and a slowness that make every line read funnier than it is on the page, and the dance lesson — Willard counting to four, badly, to "Let's Hear It for the Boy" — is one of the film's signature comic sequences. The character could have been a dumb-yokel cliché; Penn played him as a guy who knows exactly how he comes off and isn't bothered. The loyalty registers because Penn never lets Willard be ridiculous.
He was one of three actor sons of director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan. His older brother is Sean Penn; his other brother is the musician Michael Penn. Footloose was his first major lead-supporting role; he had played a smaller part in All the Right Moves (1983) the same year, the picture Tom Cruise had taken instead of Footloose. (wikipedia)
A character actor's career
Penn became one of the busiest character actors of the 1990s, often cast — as Wikipedia summarizes — as "a tough character, featured as a villain or a working-class thug, or in a comic role." His best-known parts after Footloose:
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | All the Right Moves | Tom Cruise football drama |
| 1984 | Footloose | Willard Hewitt |
| 1985 | Pale Rider | Clint Eastwood western |
| 1989 | Best of the Best | Ensemble martial arts |
| 1992 | Reservoir Dogs | Tarantino's "Nice Guy" Eddie |
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction (cameo) | Tarantino |
| 1995 | To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar | Comedy |
| 1995 | The Funeral | Abel Ferrara; Volpi Cup at Venice |
| 1997 | Mulholland Falls | Period crime |
| 1998 | Rush Hour | Brett Ratner |
| 2002 | Murder by Numbers | Sandra Bullock thriller |
| 2003–06 | The Shield | Recurring television role |
Death at forty
Penn was found dead in his Santa Monica apartment on January 24, 2006, at age 40. The Los Angeles County coroner's office initially ruled the death unexplained; in March 2006 they amended the ruling.
"The county coroner's office ruled that Penn died accidentally from an enlarged heart and the effects of a mix of multiple medications." — CBS News, CBS News (2006)
The primary cause was nonspecific cardiomyopathy — an enlarged heart — compounded by the effects of multiple prescription medications, including promethazine with codeine. The death was ruled accidental.