Movies: American Masters Pictures

An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991)....

Janis Joplin's evolution into a star from letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators....

Explores the life and career of cartoonist Art Spiegelman including the creation and ground-breaking impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel MAUS....

Rita Moreno defied both her humble upbringing and relentless racism to become one of a select group who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award. Over a seventy year career, she has paved the way for Hispanic-American performers by refusing to ...

A celebration of Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America’s most defining civil rights moments. From her upbringing in the De...

The story of the legendary wits who lunched daily at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the 1920s. The core of the so-called Round Table group included short story and poetry writer Dorothy Parker; comic actor and writer Robert Benchley; The...

Playwright Arthur Miller, director Volker Schlöndorff and actor Dustin Hoffman are seen creating the Roxbury Productions and Punch Productions teleplay Death of a Salesman (1985)....

In 1987, Marlee Matlin became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award and was thrust into the spotlight at 21 years old. Reflecting on her life in her primary language of American Sign Language, Marlee explores the complexities of what it means ...

A study of the Group Theatre, a company that changed the face of American drama. The Group was founded in 1931 by Cheryl Crawford, Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg, who were strongly influenced by the naturalistic acting of Konstantin Stanislavski’s ...

This documentary takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s. It features never-before heard studio recordings from the Double Fantasy sessions and never-before-seen outtakes...

Discover the story behind singer Brenda Lee’s iconic songs and explore how her early fame and life of poverty shaped her artistry across pop, rock ‘n’ roll and country. Known for her Christmas classic and Billboard hit “Rockin’ Around The Christmas T...

During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films....

Widely thought of as “a woman’s director,” legendary film director George Cukor is profiled with the use of film clips and interviews with his friends and colleagues to provide a picture of the director’s unique accomplishments and to trace the arc o...

American Masters takes a look at the career of Jeff Bridges as his friends and family discuss why he's so special and why he's become one of the more popular actors over the past couple of decades. Throughout the films, his co-workers and directors a...

From Schubert to Strauss, Bach to Brahms, Mozart to…Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman’s violin playing transcends mere performance to evoke the celebrations and struggles of real life. Director Alison Chernick’s (The Jeff Koons Show, Matthew Barney: No Rest...

A visual journey into the mind and soul of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Navarro Scott Momaday, relating each written line to his unique Native American experience representing ancestry, place, and oral history....

This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works, and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an expl...

First and foremost, Frank Gehry is an artist. Described as a young child as having golden hands, Frank begins his creation through sketch. Forming thought into substantive sculpture, the marriage of art and architechure is brought to life. Join direc...

See how one of the architects of the modern conservative movement rose to prominence as a public intellectual and influenced generations of politicians—including Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. As founder of the National Review and host of the pub...

Ric Burns unearths rarely seen footage and offers keen observations on the life and artistic influence of Andy Warhol. [Made for and aired on PBS's American Masters series.]...