Ken Burns
Celebrated American documentarian of the 1980s and 90s 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, variously serving as a writer, cinematographer, editor, and music director in addition to producing and directing. He achieved his apotheosis with "The Civil War" (PBS, 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 fundraising programming for public TV stations around the country.
Photos
Ken Burns
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
70% | No Score Yet | The Unmaking of a College | Self | - | 2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 'Tis the Season: The Holidays on Screen | Self | - | 2022 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Mayo Clinic: Faith - Hope - Science | Director | - | 2018 |
100% |
|
Two Who Dared: The Sharp's War |
Director, Executive Producer |
- | 2016 |
100% |
|
Ken Burns: The Civil War |
Unknown (Character), Director |
- | 2015 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Address | Director | - | 2014 |
92% |
|
The Central Park Five |
Director, Writer, Executive Producer |
$273.7K | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Tenth Inning | Director | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Yosemite Nature Notes | Unknown (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip | Director | - | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
Mark Twain |
Director, Producer, Cinematographer |
- | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs | Director | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
Not For Ourselves Alone | Director | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Frank Lloyd Wright |
Director, Producer, Cinematographer |
- | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
Thomas Jefferson | Director | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Thomas Hart Benton |
Director, Producer, Cinematographer |
- | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Congress |
Director, Producer, Cinematographer |
- | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Statue of Liberty | Director | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Huey Long |
Director, Producer |
- | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Brooklyn Bridge |
Director, Producer |
- | 1981 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
83% | No Score Yet | Leonardo da Vinci | Director | 2024 |
No Score Yet | 48% | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert | Guest | 2016-2017 2021-2022 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | To Dine For With Kate Sullivan | Guest | 2024 |
No Score Yet | 44% | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2023 |
85% | 76% | The Simpsons | Self (Guest Voice) | 2003 2011-2012 2019 2023 |
100% | 100% | The American Buffalo | Director | 2023 |
100% | 75% | Muhammad Ali |
Director, Producer |
2021 2023 |
100% | 85% | The U.S. and the Holocaust |
Producer, Director |
2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Firing Line With Margaret Hoover | Guest | 2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness | Executive Producer | 2022 |
78% | 85% | Benjamin Franklin |
Producer, Director |
2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Back on the Record With Bob Costas | Guest | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 60 Minutes | Guest | 2021 |
93% | 87% | Hemingway |
Producer, Director |
2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Kalb Report | Guest | 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Gene: An Intimate History | Executive Producer | 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Craft in America | Guest | 2019 |
88% | 97% | Country Music |
Director, Producer |
2019 |
100% | 80% | College Behind Bars | Executive Producer | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 55% | Late Night With Seth Meyers | Guest | 2018 |
96% | 95% | The Vietnam War | Director | 2017 |
100% | 29% | The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore | Guest | 2016 |
100% | 80% | Jackie Robinson |
Executive Producer, Director |
2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies | Executive Producer | 2015 |
86% | 83% | The Mindy Project | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Finding Your Roots | Guest | 2014 |
100% | 94% | The Roosevelts: An Intimate History | Director | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Daily Show | Guest | 2007 2013-2014 |
100% | 78% | Late Show With David Letterman | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Colbert Report | Guest | 2005 2009-2012 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tavis Smiley | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Dust Bowl | Director | 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The National Parks: America's Best Idea |
Producer, Writer |
2009 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Prohibition | Director | 2011 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson |
Executive Producer, Producer, Director |
2004 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jazz | Director | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The West | Executive Producer | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Civil War |
Executive Producer, Director, Writer |
1990 |