His dad, Leo, died in 1998. Was he someone involved in the McCarthy hearings?
Leo Penn (August 27, 1921 – September 5, 1998) was an American actor and Emmy Award-winning director of such popular television shows as "St. Elsewhere", "Kojak" and "Trapper John, M.D.". He was married to Eileen Ryan, and is the father of singer Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn.
Penn was born in Lawrence, MA in 1921. In the late 1940s, during the early part of his career, film studio executives placed Leo Penn on the Hollywood blacklist after he attended a pro-union meeting with other actors. Penn refused to testify to the house of Un-American activities during the McCarthy era. Unable to work in film, Penn turned to Broadway where the Actors' Equity Association had refused to go along with the ban. In 1954, he won the Theatre World Award for his performance in the play "The Girl on the Via Flaminia".
He died of lung cancer at the age of 77 on died September 5, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.