American Masters

History Series / 11 Seasons

American Masters, committed to producing comprehensive film biographies about the broad cast of characters who comprise our cultural history.

Watch Latest: S38 E6

52m 55s / TV-14

How Rita Moreno became a social activist

1m 6s

Rita Moreno's first foray into social justice was attending the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr. "I was there when he uttered the 'I Have a Dream' speech," she said. She continued to be a conscious activist throughout her career, fighting for Latine and women's rights.

Rita Moreno gives one of the shortest Oscars speeches ever

2m 25s

"Latinos were sticking their heads out the window, screaming 'She did it, she did it!'" Rita Moreno fondly remembers the historic moment she received the Academy Award for Best Actress for "West Side Story."

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It

2m 2s

Discover how Moreno defied her humble upbringing and racism to become one of a select group of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winners. Explore her 70-year career with new interviews, clips of her iconic roles and scenes of the star on set today.

The two people Buddy Guy admires most as a musician

1m 41s

On a trip to Germany, Buddy Guy met some of his musical heroes, including John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton. Meeting them was a huge achievement for Guy; he said, “I don't care if I ever get a chance to make a record or nothin'. I done met the people who I admired the most as a musician."

How blues legend Buddy Guy got his hands on his first guitar

3m 38s

Buddy Guy’s first guitar cost his father two dollars and only had two strings on it. He would go to sleep with it in his hand, walked around with it and played until his fingers almost bled. He taught himself his favorite John Lee Hooker song on that guitar.

Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away

1m 58s

Dive into the career of the legendary blues guitarist, a pioneer of Chicago’s West Side sound and major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Featuring new performances and interviews with Carlos Santana and more.

What goes through a drag ballerina's mind while dancing?

1m 32s

A dancer from "The Trocks" describes what goes through his mind while dancing the part of Odette in Swan Lake. Is he trying to portray a man playing a ballerina? Or just a ballerina? At the end of the day, it's about relating to the audience.

Watch these drag ballerinas get ready for a show

2m 14s

Dancers from "The Trocks," an all-male comic ballet company describe how performing in drag is empowering, even extending in to wearing pointe shoes, which are normally reserved for women. While they are painful, the enable some of the "best moments" in ballet.

Ballerina Boys

2m 36s

Discover Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (The Trocks), an all-male company that for 45 years has offered audiences their passion for ballet classics mixed with exuberant comedy. With every step they poke fun at their strictly gendered art form.

What was the Joy Luck Club?

1m 34s

The title of Amy Tan's famous novel was also the name of an investment club made up of Tan's parents and friends. Sandy Bremner, one of Tan's friends from childhood, describes how powerful it was for their parents to be around other immigrants from China like themselves.

How Amy Tan met her husband Lou

1m 14s

According to Amy Tan's husband, Lou, it was "cluelessness at first sight." At first, Tan wasn't attracted to Lou because of his big muscles. "I always feel that the amount of muscle mass detracts from the mass in the brain."

The author of “Crazy Rich Asians” describes Amy Tan’s impact

2m 33s

Kevin Kwan, the author of “Crazy Rich Asians,” describes how Amy Tan was the first Asian American author he read and how she paved a way forward for other writers of color to tell their stories.

Amy Tan’s first job was writing astrology

2m 12s

Amy Tan’s first job was “making up” astrology for her friend’s astrology hotline business. She later wrote ad copy, direct mail, and became a technical writer for a telecommunications company: “all the subjects I had absolutely no interest in,” Tan recalls. She turned to writing fiction in the search for more meaningful work and learned a lot about herself in the process.

Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir

2m 14s

An intimate portrait of the groundbreaking writer that interweaves archival imagery, including home movies and personal photographs, animation and original interviews to tell the inspiring story of Tan’s life and career.

What pushed Oliver Sacks’ brother towards psychosis?

1m 7s

The physician and writer Oliver Sacks had a brother who started to experience psychosis as a young man. This experience was a great influence on Sacks, who would go on to devote his life to treating, documenting, and humanizing people with mental disorders.

Why did Oliver Sacks love the periodic table so much?

1m 11s

The renowned physician and writer Oliver Sacks was known for his amazing empathy for other people. But his first “friends” as a child, as he described, were not people but numbers, minerals, metals, and plants. He loved these things throughout his life and even incorporated them into his wardrobe.

What made physician Oliver Sacks unique?

1m 26s

Journalist Robert Krulwich explains that the storytelling abilities of neurologist Oliver Sacks had the significant effect of "storying people back into the world" – people who otherwise would have been isolated and overlooked by the rest of society because of their neurological challenges.

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