Biography for
Eagle Pennell More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

28 July 1952, Andrews, West Texas, USA

Date of Death

20 July 2002, Houston, Texas, USA

Birth Name

Glenn Irwin Pinnell

Trivia

Changed name as a tribute to Arthur Penn, and Lt. Ross Pennel, from "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon". Battled alcoholism for much of his life, and at one time lived on the streets of Houston. Worked on the production crew of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

Attended the University of Texas.

Robert Redford said he was inspired by Pennell's work to create the Sundance Institute.

Graduated A&M Consolidated High School, then attended the University of Texas, but dropped out to do film work around Austin.

Reportedly changed the spelling of his last name (from Pinnell to Pennell) as both a tribute to director Arthur Penn and an homage to Lieutenant Ross Pennell, a character in John Ford's western "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon."

Buried in College Station Cemetery, College Station, Texas.

Had a grant from ITS (Independent Television Service) to develop a script from his treatment "My Dog Bit Elvis" at the time of his death. It would have been his first film since 1994.

He best films were affectionate character studies about hapless blue-collar Texans.

At the time he made his best films the distribution system for independent movies did not exist, leaving most of his films unseen except by festival audiences.

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