Watch Clip

James Baldwin: Writer, Teacher, Preacher

54s
Words -- both written and spoken -- were James Baldwin's greatest gift to America and to people of all races all over the world. He knew how to electrify readers, his insights about what it meant to be black in America were both intimate and accessible. He preached brotherhood, not violence, with searing honesty; his truth was laced with pain and anger. But he never lost hope.
Watch Preview

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise

1m 52s
After 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer; he is one of 14 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winners. Yet, the comedy giant has energetically avoided a documentary profile being made, even issuing an informal gag order on his friends until now.
Watch Clip

American Master Mel Brooks on Friend and Mentor Sid Caesar

1m 35s / TV-14
Comedic legend Sid Caesar passed away February 12, 2014, at the age of 91. Caesar was a friend and mentor to Mel Brooks and the two worked together through much of Brooks’ early career. See Brooks talk about Caesar’s genius for comedy in this film excerpt from American Masters “Mel Brooks: Make A Noise.”
Watch Preview

Philip Roth: Unmasked

30s
American Masters explores the life and career of Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning novelist Philip Roth, often referred to as the greatest living American writer. Reclusive and diffident, Roth grants very few interviews, but for the first time, allowed a journalist to spend 10 days interviewing him on camera.
Supported by