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.

1h 51m / TV-14

American Masters: Decoding Watson Trailer

2m 54s

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.

DNA Discoveries Before Watson and Crick

3m

James Watson and Francis Crick discovered DNA’s structure in 1953, but other scientists paved the way for them. Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher isolated DNA in 1869, testing cell nuclei in pus. In 1944, Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty’s study of pneumonia bacteria provided definitive evidence that DNA was the molecule of heredity.

Demystifying DNA Structure

2m 18s

DNA is known as “the molecule of life.” But what exactly is DNA, and how does it work? Molecular biologist Andrea Morris and other experts explain the science behind the double helix and how it makes each of us genetically distinct.

Remembering Stan Lee

7m 17s

In interviews with American Masters Executive Producer Michael Kantor for Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, comic book legend Stan Lee and others discuss Lee’s influential work at Marvel Comics, co-creating “The Fantastic Four,” “The Incredible Hulk,” Spider-Man and more.

Remembering Paula Wayne

3m 9s

Paula Wayne starred alongside Sammy Davis, Jr., in the groundbreaking Broadway musical “Golden Boy” about a black boxer who falls for his manager's white girlfriend – they shared the first interracial kiss on a Broadway stage.

Itzhak Perlman Plays "Theme From Schindler’s List"

2m 57s

Violinist Itzhak Perlman plays the theme from Schindler’s List for Amnon Weinstein as they discuss the importance of the violin for Jewish people in Nazi internment camps.

Andrew Wyeth Trailer

1m 36s

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.

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