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Ken Burns

Skuespiller, Produsent, Regissør, Manusforfatter

29. juli 1953 (72 år)
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.

Kjent for

  • The Vietnam War (2017)
    The Vietnam War (2017)13 episoder
  • The Civil War
    The Civil War24 episoder
  • Baseball
    Baseball12 episoder
  • The Central Park Five
    The Central Park Five2012
  • Prohibition
    Prohibition5 episoder
  • Jazz
    Jazz23 episoder
  • The War
    The War7 episoder
  • The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
    The Roosevelts: An Intimate History7 episoder
  • The National Parks: America's Best Idea
    The National Parks: America's Best Idea22 episoder
  • Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
    Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson2004
  • The U.S. and the Holocaust
    The U.S. and the Holocaust5 episoder
  • The American Revolution (2025)
    The American Revolution (2025)7 episoder
  • The Dust Bowl
    The Dust Bowl2 episoder
  • The West
    The West9 episoder
  • Country Music
    Country Music47 episoder
  • Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
    Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery1997
  • Benjamin Franklin (2022)
    Benjamin Franklin (2022)1 sesong
  • Brooklyn Bridge
    Brooklyn Bridge1981
  • Mark Twain
    Mark Twain2002
  • Frank Lloyd Wright
    Frank Lloyd Wright1998

Filmografi

2016
Jackie Robinson · as Director
2015
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies · as Producer
2014
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History · as Producer
2014
MasterClass
2007
The War · as Director
2005
This Week
2001
Jazz · as Director
1994
Baseball · as Director
1993
Gettysburg · as Hancock's Aide
1989
The Simpsons · as Ken Burns (voice)