final credits - chris penn
Chris Penn never saw the same light of fame that visited other members of his family.
His older brother was Sean Penn, the Oscar-winning actor. His father was the blacklisted actor-turned-TV director Leo Penn. His mother was actress Eileen Ryan. And his other brother Michael is an acclaimed singer/songwriter.
Despite the talent that obviously ran through his blood, Chris Penn seemed doomed by his own demons.
With his always-hefty build, protruding chin and slightly pouting lips, Penn looked the part of the ordinary guy or a small-time crook.
His best known role was as the baby-faced criminal Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs," and his character's death or non-death in the famous Mexican standoff at the film's end was the subject of lengthy internet debate.
Penn racked up over 60 film and television roles in just two decades.
He came to prominence in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 coming-of-age film "Rumble Fish," appearing a year later with Tom Cruise in "All The Right Moves" and with Kevin Bacon in "Footloose."
Penn's role in Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" was followed by a starring role alongside his brother Sean and his mother in the 1986 film "At Close Range."
He also had roles in the Tarantino-scripted "True Romance," Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," Abel Ferrara's gangster period piece "The Funeral" and David Lynch's "Mulholland Falls." Video game fans will recognise Penn as the voice of Officer Eddie Pulaski in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."
Friends of Penn have publicly related the details of his last meal: steak washed down with pint after pint of beer, chocolate milkshakes and shots of 130 percent strength whiskey.
The eating binge capped a lifetime of self-abuse first sparked by the death of his two-day-old daughter. Between 1987 and 2000, he racked up arrests for carrying a handgun, reckless driving, two DUIs and driving with a suspended license.
A coroner's report stated Penn died from "nonspecific cardiomyopathy," an oversized heart, along with the "effects of multiple medication intake."
At the time of his death, the 6 ft-tall Penn weighed 310 lbs (140 kg).
His last film, ironically titled "The Darwin Awards," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival the day after his death. Penn played a duck-hunter who tried to blow a hole in a frozen lake with dynamite, only to have his dog retrieve the lit explosive.
The Darwin Award is an honour given to people who supposedly help to improve the human gene pool by "removing themselves from it in a spectacularly stupid manner."
Penn was nominated for a Best Actor Genie (Canada's equivalent of the Oscar) in 1996 for "The Boys Club." A bar on New York's Lower East Side called "Nice Guy Eddie's" was named for his performance in "Reservoir Dogs."
His funeral was attended by brother Sean along with his actress wife, Robin Wright Penn, Jack Nicholson, James Gandolfini, Charlie Sheen and Tim Robbins.
Penn has a Bacon number of 1.
Chris Penn died January 24th, 2006 at the age of [40 or 43] from his lifestyle.