U.S. director Arthur Penn, seen in Berlin in 2007, has died at the age of 88. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)Noted film, TV and theatre director Arthur Penn, known for his work on films like Bonnie and Clyde and plays such as The Miracle Worker, died at his Manhattan home Tuesday evening, his family announced.

Penn's death, of congestive heart failure, came just a day after his 88th birthday. He had been ill for close to a year, according to his friend and business manager Evan Bell.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in New York and New Jersey after his parents divorced, Penn was the younger brother of acclaimed photographer Irving Penn.

The theatre piqued his interest in high school, and during a stint in the army during the Second World War, he helped organize a theatre troupe featuring soldiers. After the war, he enrolled in North Carolina's famed Black Mountain College, where his peers included composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham. He also pursued post-secondary studies in Italy and studied The Method at the Actors Studio in New York and Los Angeles.

In the early days of television, Penn landed a job as a floor director and eventually gained renown for his pioneering directing work behind the camera of early TV dramas. That led to staging shows on Broadway, including Two for the Seesaw, Toys in the Attic and Tony Award-winners The Miracle Worker and All the Way Home.

He struggled with a move to filmmaking during the turbulent 1960s, with Hollywood sometimes celebrating his work (as with the film adaptation of The Miracle Worker) and sometimes scratching its head at his filmmaking vision (Mickey One, The Chase).

However, his work was eventually hailed for its fresh perspective, perhaps best exemplified in his loosely historical, sympathetic and yet shocking (for the period) portrayal of the violent, sexy lawbreakers Bonnie and Clyde.

The watershed film, inspired by the French New Wave, helped smash taboos and pave the way for a new era in American cinema. Iconic movies that followed its release included Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, Mike Nichols' The Graduate and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.

Other notable Penn films include Alice's Restaurant, Little Big Man, The Missouri Breaks, Night Moves, Four Friends and Penn and Teller Get Killed.

Later in his life, he returned to TV, including stints as an executive producer on Law & Order, and to Broadway.

Penn is survived by his wife, two children and four grandchildren. A memorial is slated to be held later this year.

Penn's outlaw tale Bonnie and Clyde helped usher in a new wave of American filmmaking. The actors portraying the film's Barrow gang are shown, from left: Michael J. Pollard, Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, Estelle Parsons and Gene Hackman. (Getty Images) With files from The Associated Press