Bonnie and Clyde

The director died Tuesday night, a day after his 88th birthday, leaving behind films — most notably “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Little Big Man” — that refashioned movie and American history, made and broke myths and sealed a generation’s affinity for outsiders.

Daughter Molly Penn said her father died at his home in Manhattan of congestive heart failure. A memorial service will be held by year’s end, longtime friend and business manager Evan Bell said Wednesday.

Penn — younger brother of the photographer Irving Penn — first made his name on Broadway as director of the Tony Award–winning plays “The Miracle Worker” and “All the Way Home,” then rose as a film director in the 1960s, his work inspired by the decade’s political and social upheaval.

“Bonnie and Clyde,” with its mix of humor and mayhem, encouraged moviegoers to sympathize with the marauding robbers, while “Little Big Man” told the tale of the conquest of the West with the Indians as the good guys.

“A society would be wise to pay attention to the people who do not belong if it wants to find out … where it’s failing,” Penn said.