Ken Burns

Ator, Produtor, Diretor, Escritor

29 de julho de 1953 (72 anos)
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.

Conhecido Por

  • A Guerra do Vietnã: A Batalha que a Mídia Venceu
    A Guerra do Vietnã: A Batalha que a Mídia Venceu13 episódios
  • A Guerra Civil
    A Guerra Civil24 episódios
  • Baseball
    Baseball12 episódios
  • The War
    The War7 episódios
  • Os Cinco do Central Park
    Os Cinco do Central Park2012
  • Prohibition
    Prohibition5 episódios
  • Jazz
    Jazz23 episódios
  • The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
    The Roosevelts: An Intimate History7 episódios
  • The National Parks: America's Best Idea
    The National Parks: America's Best Idea22 episódios
  • Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
    Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson2004
  • The American Revolution (2025)
    The American Revolution (2025)7 episódios
  • The Dust Bowl
    The Dust Bowl2 episódios
  • The West
    The West9 episódios
  • Country Music
    Country Music47 episódios
  • Muhammad Ali
    Muhammad Ali8 episódios
  • 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 temporada
  • Brooklyn Bridge
    Brooklyn Bridge1981
  • The U.S. and the Holocaust
    The U.S. and the Holocaust5 episódios
  • Mark Twain
    Mark Twain2002

Filmography

2016
Jackie Robinson · as Director
2015
2014
2014
2007
The War · as Director
2005
2001
Jazz · as Director
1994
Baseball · as Director
1993
Gettysburg · as Hancock's Aide
1989
The Simpsons · as Ken Burns (voice)