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Ken Burns (born 1953) is a highly celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, periodicals and ordinary people's correspondence, the latter often movingly read by seasoned professional actors in a deliberate attempt to get away from a "Great Man" approach to history. Like most non-fiction filmmakers, Burns wears many hats on his projects, often serving as writer, cinematographer, editor and music director in addition to producing and directing. He achieved his apotheosis with The Civil War (1990), a phenomenally popular 11-hour documentary that won two Emmys and broke all previous ratings records for public TV. The series' companion coffee table book--priced at a hefty $50--sold more than 700,000 copies. The audio version, narrated by Burns, was also a major best-seller. In the final accounting, "The Civil War" became the first documentary to gross over $100 million. Not surprisingly, it has become perennial fund-raising programming for public TV stations around the country. Burns arrived upon the scene with the Oscar-nominated Brooklyn Bridge (1981), a nostalgic chronicle of the construction of the fabled edifice. The film was more widely seen when rebroadcast on PBS the following year. Though Burns has made other nonfiction films for theatrical release, notably an acclaimed and ambiguous portrait of Depression-era Louisiana governor Huey Long (1985), PBS would prove to be his true home. He cast a probing eye on such American subjects as The Statue of Liberty (1985), The Congress (1988) (PBS), painter Thomas Hart Benton (1988) (PBS) and early radio with Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) (PBS). Burns returned to long-form documentary with his most ambitious project to date, an 18-hour history of Baseball (1994), which aired on PBS in the fall of 1994. He approached the national pastime as a template for understanding changes in modern American society. Ironically, this was the only baseball on the air at the time, as the players and owners were embroiled in a bitter strike.
Info
- wc Gender: Male
- calendar_month Birth Date: 1953-07-29
- event Death Date Unknown
- school Known for: Directing
- star Popularity: 0.7
- info Birth Place Brooklyn, New York, USA
- visibility Views: 27 views
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star User Ratings:
image Images
smart_display Movies and TV shows by Ken Burns
0
A Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939
2010-01-24
8
The Unmaking of a College
2022-02-11
7.7
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
2012-10-03
0
Ken Burns: One Nation, Many Stories
2024-09-04
0
OETA's On the Record: Ken Burns
2014-09-15
7
Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation
2000-11-08
0
Ken Burns: Here & There
2020-11-28
0
Here For A Good Time
2020-05-01
6.3
Very Ralph
2019-11-12
0
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
2019-03-05
7
Wordplay
2006-06-26
0
Spirit of Golf
2023-07-23
0
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
2013-12-08
6.4
The Tony Danza Show
2004-09-13
6.4
The Daily Show
1996-07-22
5.8
Today
1952-01-14
9
This Week
1981-11-15
6.4
Finding Your Roots
2012-03-24
6.6
60 Minutes
1968-09-24
7
The Colbert Report
2005-10-17
7.3
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993-09-13
5
The Tim McCarver Show
2005-02-06
6
Back on the Record with Bob Costas
2021-07-30
6.3
The Mindy Project
2012-09-25
0
MLB: Baseball's Seasons
2009-01-07
6.1
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015-09-08
8.1
The Simpsons
1989-12-17
6.7
CNN Special Report
1980-04-19
7.5
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962-10-01
5.9
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014-02-17
6.7
In the Know
2024-01-25
0
Craft in America
2007-04-18
7.5
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018-06-22
6.3
Difficult People
2015-08-05
7.2
The Problem with Jon Stewart
2021-09-30
7.5
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018-06-22
7
The Colbert Report
2005-10-17
6.4
Late Show with David Letterman
1993-08-30
6.1
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015-09-08
4.4
The View
1997-08-11
movie_edit Directing
4.4
East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
2020-03-24
4.4
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2004-09-04
4.4
Seeing, Searching, Being: William Segal
2010-08-03
4.4
Brooklyn Bridge
1981-11-08
4.4
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
1984-11-01
4.4
The Congress
1989-03-19
4.4
The Statue of Liberty
1985-10-26
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
2003-10-06
4.4
The Central Park Five
2012-05-24
4.4
Huey Long
1985-09-28
4.4
Mark Twain
2002-01-14
4.4
Mark Twain
2002-01-14
4.4
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991-10-01
4.4
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991-10-01
4.4
The Statue of Liberty
1985-10-26
4.4
The Address
2014-04-15
4.4
Thomas Hart Benton
1989-10-31
4.4
Brooklyn Bridge
1981-11-08
4.4
The Statue of Liberty
1985-10-26
4.4
Mark Twain
2002-01-14
4.4
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
2016-09-20
4.4
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
2016-09-20
4.4
Lindbergh
1990-10-01
4.4
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
1984-11-01
4.4
Huey Long
1985-09-28
4.4
Thomas Hart Benton
1989-10-31
4.4
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991-10-01
4.4
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991-10-01
4.4
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
2013-12-08
4.4
Interstellar
2014-11-05
4.4
The Mayo Clinic
2018-09-25
4.4
East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
2020-03-24
4.4
Walden
2017-11-08
4.4
Brooklyn Bridge
1981-11-08
4.4
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
1984-11-01
4.4
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991-10-01
4.4
The Mayo Clinic
2018-09-25
4.4
The Mayo Clinic
2018-09-25
4.4
Homecoming
2023-10-18
4.4
The Central Park Five
2012-05-24
4.4
The Central Park Five
2012-05-24
4.4
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
2013-12-08
4.4
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
2013-12-08
4.4
Henry David Thoreau
2026-03-30
4.4
The Civil War
1990-09-23
4.4
The Civil War
1990-09-23
4.4
Baseball
1994-09-18
4.4
Baseball
1994-09-18
4.4
Jazz
2001-01-09
4.4
Jazz
2001-01-09
4.4
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
2009-09-27
4.4
The War
2007-09-23
4.4
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
1997-11-04
4.4
The Vietnam War
2017-09-17
4.4
Thomas Jefferson
1997-02-18
4.4
The West
1996-09-15
4.4
The Dust Bowl
2012-11-18
4.4
The Dust Bowl
2012-11-18
4.4
Frank Lloyd Wright
1998-11-10
4.4
Jackie Robinson
2016-04-11
4.4
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
1997-11-04
4.4
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
2009-09-27
4.4
Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
1999-11-07
4.4
Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
1999-11-07
4.4
Prohibition
2011-10-02
4.4
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014-09-14
4.4
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014-09-14
4.4
The War
2007-09-23
4.4
The Civil War
1990-09-23
4.4
Country Music
2019-09-15
4.4
Country Music
2019-09-15
4.4
The Vietnam War
2017-09-17
4.4
The Vietnam War
2017-09-17
4.4
Prohibition
2011-10-02
4.4
Prohibition
2011-10-02
4.4
Hemingway
2021-04-05
4.4
The Gene: An Intimate History
2020-04-07
4.4
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies
2015-03-30
4.4
Hemingway
2021-04-05
4.4
Muhammad Ali
2021-09-19
4.4
Muhammad Ali
2021-09-19
4.4
Muhammad Ali
2021-09-19
4.4
The Civil War
1990-09-23
4.4
Mark Twain
2002-01-14
4.4
Frank Lloyd Wright
1998-11-10
4.4
The U.S. and the Holocaust
2022-09-18
4.4
Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
2022-06-27
4.4
Benjamin Franklin
2022-04-04
4.4
De la poussière et des hommes
2021-06-07
4.4
The American Buffalo
2023-10-16
4.4
Thomas Jefferson
1997-02-18
4.4
The American Buffalo
2023-10-16
4.4
The American Buffalo
2023-10-16
4.4
College Behind Bars
2019-11-25
4.4
The American Revolution
2025-11-16
4.4
Leonardo da Vinci
2024-11-18
4.4
Leonardo da Vinci
2024-11-18
4.4
Leonardo da Vinci
2024-11-18
4.4
Baseball
1994-09-18
4.4
Baseball
1994-09-18
4.4
Baseball
1994-09-18
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
The American Revolution
2025-11-16
4.4
The American Revolution
2025-11-16
4.4
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2005-01-17
4.4
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2005-01-17
4.4
Benjamin Franklin
2022-04-04
4.4
Henry David Thoreau
2026-03-30
4.4
Henry David Thoreau
2026-03-30
4.4
Henry David Thoreau
2026-03-30
4.4
The U.S. and the Holocaust
2022-09-18
4.4
Prohibition
2011-10-02
4.4
The U.S. and the Holocaust
2022-09-18
4.4
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
2010-09-28
4.4
Leonardo da Vinci
2024-11-18
4.4
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014-09-14
4.4
The American Revolution
2025-11-16
4.4
Henry David Thoreau
2026-03-30