Seasons & episodes
S32 · E2Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 2018-05-18 · 90 min
A profile of Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000), who was known as the world's most beautiful woman. Behind the pretty face, however, was the mind of an ingenious inventor whose pioneering work helped revolutionize modern communication. An Austrian Jewish emigrant, she invented a covert communication system to try to help defeat the Nazis; and it was her concept that is now used as the basis for secure WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies.
S32 · E3Ted Williams: “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” 2018-07-23 · 90 min
American Masters: Ted Williams (w.t.) will also look at the impact the iconic hitter has had on the current generation of stars in Major League Baseball. Superstars like Kris Bryant, Daniel Murphy and Josh Donaldson have credited Williams’ methods to hitting as guides in their own approach today.
S32 · E4Artists Flight: Eva Hesse 2018-08-31 · 90 min
As the wild ride of the 1960s came to a close, Eva Hesse, a 34 year-old German-born American artist was cresting the wave of a swiftly rising career. One of the few women recognized as central to the New York art scene, she had over 20 group shows scheduled for 1970 in addition to being chosen for a cover article in ArtForum Magazine. Her inventive sculptures were finally receiving both the critical and commercial attention they deserved. When she died May 1970 from a brain tumor, the life of one of that decades’ most passionate and brilliant artists was tragically cut short. American Masters deepens the understanding of this extraordinary artist, not only in terms of her innovative work with fiberglass and latex, but also the life that provided the fertile soil for her achievements. Through dozens of new interviews, Hesse’s artwork and a wealth of newly discovered archival imagery, the documentary traces Hesse’s path and delves deep into the creative communities of 1960s New York and Germany. Written and directed by Marcie Begleiter.
S32 · E5Artists Flight: Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray 2018-09-07 · 90 min
This intimate portrait of maverick painter and printmaker Elizabeth Murray explores the relationship between her family life and career, and reconsiders her place in contemporary art history. Excerpts from her journals voiced by Meryl Streep, verité footage and home videos show Murray’s internal struggles and incredible ambition. Exclusive interviews with art world luminaries describe the thriving New York art scene within which Murray challenged and captivated her viewers. In 2005, Murray was the fifth woman to be celebrated with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Breaking convention, Murray’s paintings still defy efforts at categorization. Through them she made an indelible imprint on the contemporary art world. This film chronicles her remarkable journey from an impoverished childhood in Chicago to the extraordinary art world of lower Manhattan, before she lost her life to cancer in 2007. American Masters: Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray cements Murray’s legacy as one of the great painters of our time. Directed and produced by Kristi Zea.
S32 · E6Andrew Wyeth 2018-09-07 · 90 min
Wyeth tells the story of one of America’s most popular, but least understood, artists – Andrew Wyeth. Son of the famous illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew had his first exhibition at age 20, and his painting “Christina’s World” was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948. While Wyeth’s exhibitions routinely broke attendance records, art world critics continually assaulted his work. Detailing the stunning drawings and powerful portraits he created in Chadds Ford, Pa., and on the coast of Cushing, Maine, Wyeth explores his inspirations, including neighbor Christina Olsen and his hidden muse, the German model Helga Testorf, who he painted secretly for 15 years. Through unprecedented access to Wyeth’s family members, including sons Jamie and Nicholas Wyeth, and never-before-seen archival materials from the family’s personal collection and hundreds of Wyeth’s studies, drawings and paintings, American Masters presents the most complete portrait of the artist yet — bearing witness to a legacy just at the moment it is evolving.
S32 · E7Basquiat: Rage to Riches 2018-09-14 · 90 min
One of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a rock star of the early ’80s New York art scene. He lived fast, died young and created thousands of drawings and paintings. It took less than a decade for Basquiat, an accountant’s son from Brooklyn, to go from anonymous graffiti writer known as SAMO© to an epoch-defining art star. Today, Basquiat is in the top tier of the international art market along with Picasso, de Kooning, and Francis Bacon. 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of Basquiat’s untimely death from a heroin overdose. In death, he has emerged as one of the most important artists of his generation and now exhibits in museums all over the world.
S32 · E8Itzhak Perlman 2018-10-14 · 90 min
A cinéma vérité look at the remarkable life and career of world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, a polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel in the mid-1930s. His life story unfolds through conversations with fellow musicians and friends, including Billy Joel, Alan Alda, pianist Martha Argerich, cellist Mischa Maisky, and his wife of 50 years, Toby.
S33 · E1Decoding Watson 2019-01-02 · 90 min
Meet James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist behind the double helix as he confronts his complex legacy. With unprecedented access to Watson and his family, "American Masters: Decoding Watson" explores his life, achievements, controversies and contradictions.
S33 · E2Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me 2019-02-19 · 90 min
Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory.
S33 · E3Charley Pride 2019-02-22 · 90 min
Raised in segregated Mississippi, country performer Charley Pride proves artistic expression can triumph over prejudice and injustice.
S33 · E4Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives 2019-03-01 · 90 min
For 40 years, singer and activist Holly Near works on global social justice coalition-building in the women's and lesbian movements.
S33 · E5Joseph Pulitzer: Voice Of The People 2019-04-12 · 90 min
Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer becomes one of America's most feared and admired newspaper moguls and a crusader for freedom of the press.
S33 · E6Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable 2019-04-19 · 90 min
A documentary about an important American still photographer who captured New York City in the 1960s (his work there is said to have influenced the TV show Mad Men) and later the West in Texas and Los Angeles.
S33 · E7Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life 2019-06-14 · 90 min
Playwright, librettist, scriptwriter and outspoken LGBTQ activist Terrence McNally has long believed in the power of the arts to transform society and make a difference. The film lifts the curtain on the life, career and inspirations of the complicated and brilliant Emmy- and four-time Tony Award-winning writer.
S33 · E8Robert Shaw -- Man of Many Voices 2019-06-21 · 90 min
A profile of the conductor, his work with the civil rights movement, and his musical legacy.
S33 · E9Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin 2019-08-02 · 90 min
Explore the remarkable life and legacy of late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin whose groundbreaking work, including “The Left Hand of Darkness,” transformed American literature by bringing science fiction into the literary mainstream.
S33 · E10Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage 2019-09-13 · 90 min
American Masters and Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES join forces to present the first documentary about Raúl Juliá, the versatile Puerto Rican actor whose work on stage and screen took the world by storm. Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage premieres Friday, September 13, 2019 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS Video App in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
S33 · E11Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous 2019-10-25 · 90 min
Explore the life of the celebrated artist whose luminous color field paintings helped define the abstract expressionist movement, which shifted the art world epicenter from Paris to New York.
S33 · E12N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear 2019-11-18 · 90 min
Delve into the enigmatic life and mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.
S34 · E1Miles Davis Birth of the Cool 2020-03-03 · 90 min
Discover the man behind the legend. With full access to the Miles Davis Estate, the film features never-before-seen footage, including studio outtakes from his recording sessions, rare photos and new interviews.
S34 · E2Mae West: Dirty Blonde 2020-06-16 · 90 min
American Masters — Mae West: Dirty Blonde is the first major documentary film to explore Mae West’s life and career as she "climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong" to become a writer, performer and subversive agitator for social change. West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the 20th century. She possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s and still rare today.
S34 · E3Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am 2020-06-01 · 90 min
Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers and critics on an exploration of the powerful themes she confronted throughout her literary career in this artful and intimate meditation that examines the life and work of the legendary storyteller.
S34 · E4Unladylike2020: The Changemakers 2020-07-10 · 90 min
Mark the women’s suffrage centennial with stories of pioneering women who shaped American politics.
S34 · E5Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip 2020-10-20 · 90 min
Meet Walter Winchell, the newspaper columnist, radio commentator and television personality who pioneered the fast-paced, gossip-driven, politically charged journalism that dominates today. At his peak, his audience was 50 million. Stanley Tucci portrays Winchell in a new American Masters documentary.