Julie Newmar; The Wild Life; Reservoir Dogs; The Funeral; Footloose; Rush Hour; Corky Romano; True Romance; Beethoven's 2nd, Short Cuts; The Boys Club; All the Right Moves; At Close Range; Pale Rider; and Starsky & Hutch.

He also provided the voice of corrupt cop Edward "Eddie" Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Penn started acting at the age of 12 at the Loft Studio and made his film debut in 1979's Charlie and the Talking Buzzard, starring Christopher Hanks.

He also appeared in the hit dance movie Footloose in 1984 as the best friend of Kevin Bacon's character; played a villain in the Clint Eastwood western Pale Rider (1985); and co-starred with his brother Sean Penn and mother Eileen Ryan in At Close Range (1986).

Two of his more memorable performances were in Reservoir Dogs as Nice Guy Eddie and True Romance as Nicky Dimes (both characters in scripts written by Quentin Tarantino).

In 2001, Penn was meant to appear in American Pie 2 as Steve Stifler's father, but his scenes were eventually cut as there was insufficient time to include him in the film's plot.

Penn was featured in an episode of the television crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent ("Death Roe") during the 2004–2005 season.

[7] An autopsy and subsequent toxicology report performed by a Los Angeles County medical examiner revealed the primary cause of death was heart disease.