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 a ... nd 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.
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| Organization | Category | Movie |
|---|
The Simpsons
as Ken Burns (voice)
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Dec 17, 1989
The Mindy Project
as Ken Burns
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 25, 2012
MLB: Baseball's Seasons
as Filmmaker
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 07, 2009
The Colbert Report
as Self
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Oct 17, 2005
Muhammad Ali
as Self - Panelist
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Sep 19, 2021
The Daily Show
as Self
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Jul 22, 1996
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Sep 08, 2015
The U.S. and the Holocaust
as Self
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Sep 18, 2022
The Tony Danza Show
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 13, 2004
Today
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 14, 1952
This Week
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Nov 15, 1981
Finding Your Roots
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Mar 24, 2012
60 Minutes
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 24, 1968
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
as Self - Guest
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 13, 1993
The Tim McCarver Show
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Feb 06, 2005
Back on the Record with Bob Costas
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jul 30, 2021
CNN Special Report
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Apr 19, 1980
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 01, 1962
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Feb 17, 2014
In the Know
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 25, 2024
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 08, 2015
Baseball
as Self - Guest
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 18, 1994
Craft in America
as Himself
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Apr 18, 2007
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jun 22, 2018
Popularity History
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| 2025 | 1 | 10 | 30 | 3 |
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| 2025 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
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Trending Rank
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| 2024 | 5 | 995 | 972 |
| 2024 | 6 | 539 | 140 |
| 2024 | 7 | 714 | 604 |
| 2025 | 1 | 319 | 53 |
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| 2025 | 3 | 487 | 447 |
| 2025 | 7 | 338 | 129 |
| 2025 | 8 | 288 | 3 |