The English actor was also known for his collaboration with Dame Judi Dench and her husband, Michael Williams, and they starred in several stage productions together, including King Lear.
In an interview with the Independent in 2015, Pennington said watching Dench play Ophelia in a 1957 Hamlet production in London inspired him to go into the theatre.
“There’s no one quite like Judi. For her acting is playing: she’s a lass unparalleled,” he told the paper.
Pennington also had roles in several BBC productions, including The Witches of Pendle, Oedipus The King and an adaptation of Middlemarch.
His last credited role was in 2022, when he voiced The Trust in five episodes of sci-fi series Raised by Wolves.