How did Bob Penny die? ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ actor, 87, was a college professor
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA: Bob Penny, a college professor turned actor from Alabama who had a nearly 30-year Hollywood career died at 87 on Christmas Day in Huntsville, Alabama. Penny taught poetry and prose for three decades as an English professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. The cause of his death is not known at this moment.
He earned a doctorate from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and a master's in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through the years, Penny won various accolades for both his teaching and poetry including the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Awards for excellence in Classroom Teaching in 1974.
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After 32 years of teaching, he took a break from academics in 1990 and focused on his passion for acting. Penny started landing modest supporting roles in several well-known classics. He also found work performing in TV commercials for a nearby department store and for a United Way campaign in Atlanta during the 1980s. "Then the movies began to come," Penny told AL.com in 2008. "I was really lucky. I had these very small roles, but they sure helped pay the mortgage."
Penny had over 30 film and television appearances over the course of his Hollywood career. Among the films, he has appeared in are 'The Legend of Bagger Vance', 'Mississippi Burning', 'Forrest Gump', 'Sweet Home Alabama', and 'Forrest Gump.' Penny acted in a number of TV shows, including 'Higher Education', 'Drop Dead Diva', 'Devious Maids', and the 'In the Heat of the Night' TV adaption. In 2016, he appeared in a recurring role on the television show 'Still the King.' Penny also performed in theater, appearing onstage in Birmingham versions of 'The Odd Couple' and 'Don Juan in Hell', according to ETOnline.
Penny was survived by six nieces, one nephew, his sister, his brother, and his sister-in-law. "Bob Penny captivated all of our hearts at Birmingham Festival Theatre and put his all into his work," Rhonda Erbrick, chairwoman of the theater's board, said in a statement. She added that Penny "is and was always an actor and a joy to be around."
"A special thanks is given to longtime friend/caregiver, Lakin Boyd," his online obituary states. His friends and coworkers have paid tribute to him in the obituary's comment area. One wrote, “I am still proud to say I knew Bob, and I will always remember to look for him sitting on that bench watching Tom Hanks run by,” referencing his appearance in Forrest Gump, Decider reports.