Sean Penn’s Mother and Actress Eileen Ryan Dies at 94
Actress Eileen Ryan and mother to Sean Penn has passed away just a week shy of her 95th birthday.
The “Little House On The Prairie” star died on Sunday at her Malibu home, her rep confirmed.
Throughout her long-running career, Eileen appeared in more than 60 TV shows and movies. One of her biggest roles was also as a mom to Sean Penn, Michael Penn and late actor Chris Penn, who died at age 40 from cardiomyopathy in 2006. She and actor Leo Penn shared the three boys together, they were married for 41 years until his death in 1998.
Her eldest son Michael also confirmed the sad news in a Tweet on Monday, writing, “We lost mom yesterday” along with a broken heart emoji.
We lost mom yesterday ?? pic.twitter.com/r9XSKdEeE5
— Michael Penn (@MPenn) October 10, 2022
Eileen was a proud supported of her son Sean’s career and joined him on many red carpets and also had cameos in some of his films including “I Am Sam.”
She also joined him for the Academy Awards in 2004 where he won the Oscar for his role in “Mystic River” as she proudly watched his acceptance speech.
Her last onscreen appearance was in Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply” in 2016.
Some of her Hollywood friends are remembering the late actress on Twitter.
“Rest in peace Eileen Ryan. You were a wonderful woman and actor and gave birth to gifted artists. Bless you,” Rosanna Arquette tweeted.
“I had the pleasure and privilege to work with extremely talented and gifted woman on the film 8 Legged Freaks. The world lost a giant. RIP Eileen,” Director and producer Dean Devlin tweeted following her passing.
