[4] She began to reduce her involvement in acting in order to look after her young family, which later relocated to the West Coast.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ryan periodically had small roles in television shows, such as The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, and others directed by her husband Leo Penn.

[1] Ryan resumed acting on a more frequent basis in 1986,[1] when she appeared with her sons Sean and Chris in At Close Range as the brothers' grandmother.

[1] She also starred in Parenthood a year later opposite Jason Robards – whose withdrawal from his role in The Iceman Cometh over three decades earlier enabled Ryan to meet her future husband[1] – before making an appearance in The Crossing Guard (1995), which her son Sean directed.

[6] Two years later, she went back to the stage in the play Remembrance, acting alongside her husband in a production by Sean Penn at the Odyssey Theater.