Bob Penny, a character actor with roles on Forrest Gump and Sweet Home Alabama, died Sunday. He was 87.
Penny’s cause of death was not revealed in an online obituary shared by the Laughlin Service Funeral Home.
Other credits included Fried Green Tomatoes, When Will I Be Loved, Mississippi Burning, My Cousin Vinny, and The Legend of Bagger Vance, as well as seven episodes of the TV series In the Heat of the Night. “
Penny was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1935 and has appeared in more than 30 films and television shows throughout his acting career. Before becoming an actor, he spent three decades as an English professor and taught poetry at the University of Alabama.
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Sweet Home Alabama actor Bob Penny died Sunday at the age of 87. (Kim McCray)
He received his master’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his doctorate from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.
Penny has received numerous awards over the years, both for his teaching and his poetry.
In the ’80s, Penny found part-time work in television commercials for a local department store and for a United Way campaign in Atlanta.
Bob Penny appeared in Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon. (Getty Images)
He retired from teaching in 1990 and pursued his acting career.
“Then the movies started coming,” Penny told AL.com in 2008. “I was really lucky. I had these very small roles, but they definitely helped pay the mortgage.”
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He was credited as “Buddy” in the 1994 Tom Hanks film Forrest Gump and appeared as small-town attorney Wallace Buford in 2002’s Sweet Home Alabama starring Reese Witherspoon.
Penny was referred to as “dude” in the 1994 Tom Hanks film Forrest Gump. (Getty Images)
Penny also took part in theater and appeared on stage in plays including The Odd Couple and Don Juan in Hell in Birmingham.
“Bob Penny captured all of our hearts at the Birmingham Festival Theater and put everything into his work,” Rhonda Erbrick, the theatre’s chief executive, said in a statement. She added that Penny “always has been and always has been an actor and is a pleasure to be around.”
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Penny is survived by his brother, sister, six nieces and a nephew.
“A special thanks goes to longtime friend/carer Lakin Boyd,” reads his online obituary.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tracy Wright is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to [email protected].