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.

53m 3s

Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning - Preview

3m 31s / TV-G

Her photograph Migrant Mother is one of the most recognized and arresting images in the world, a portrait that came to represent America's Great Depression. Yet few know the story, struggles and profound body of work of the woman who created the portrait: Dorothea Lange. Directed and narrated by Lange's granddaughter Dyanna Taylor, the two-hour film premieres Friday, August 29 at 9 pm on PBS.

Lange's Photos of the Internment of Japanese-Americans

The U.S. War Relocation Authority hired photographer Dorothea Lange to document the relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. It horrified her, but she felt it was important to record what has happening. "This is what we did. How did it happen? How could we? Now, I have never had a comfortable feeling about that war relocation job," she later said.

Lange's Eye on The Great Depression and Sharecropping

2m 53s

Dorothea Lange's photographed resilient men and women struggling with the Great Depression and sharecropping system. Lange tells the story of Tom Collins, the manager of "Migratory Labor Camp," whom she met. He became a character in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. American Masters: Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning premieres Friday, August 29 at 9-11 pm on PBS.

Dorothea Lange's Portrait Studio in San Francisco

1m 45s

In 1919 at the age of 24, Dorothea Lange opened her own portrait studio in San Francisco, which was a success and simultaneously became a social gathering spot for artists. American Masters — Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning premieres nationwide Friday, August 29, 9-11 pm on PBS.

The Dust Bowl: Documenting the First Migrants to California

2m 41s

Photographer Dorothea Lange and her husband were the first to witness and to understand the causes of the huge migration to California in the 1930s: families were escaping the Dust Bowl. In this excerpt, Lange describes photographing the first car arriving in California. American Masters — Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning premieres nationwide Friday, August 29, 9-11 pm on PBS.

Tanaquil Le Clercq, the Ideal Balanchine Dancer

1m 7s

Tanaquil Le Clercq was one of George Balanchine's muses and her body and style became an ideal in ballet. This excerpt from "American Masters -- Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun" shows her dancing in Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco" and includes commentary from Balanchine's assistant and New York City Ballet dancer Patricia McBride Lousada on how Le Clercq ("Tanny") became the "ideal."

Tanaquil Le Clercq in Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun

1m 35s / TV-PG

"Afternoon of a Faun," a love pas deux choreographed by Jerome Robbins for the New York City Ballet, was made on Tanaquil Le Clercq, who premiered the work in 1953 along with partner Francisco Moncion. In this excerpt, she dances the ballet with Jacques d'Amboise, who describes dancing with her. "American Masters -- Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun" airs June 20, 2014 at 10 pm on PBS.

Polio and Iron Lungs in the 1950s. Le Clercq's Illness.

1m 42s / TV-PG

Ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq contracted polio while on tour in Europe in 1956. She was hospitalized in Copenhagen, where an iron lung kept her breathing and her husband George Balanchine stayed to care for her. "American Masters -- Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun," includes archival footage showing patients in iron lung machines. It airs Friday, June 20 on PBS (check local listings).

Western Symphony: One of Tanaquil Le Clercq's Last Dances

56s / TV-PG

Watch a clip of Tanaquil Le Clercq and Jacques d’Amboise in Western Symphony, one of the last ballets Le Clercq performed in before falling ill with polio on the New York City Ballet's European tour in 1956. Jacques d'Amboise remembers his last dance with Tanny. Watch American Masters - Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun on Friday, June 20 at 10 pm on PBS.

Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun - Trailer

2m 21s

Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929–2000) was a mesmerizing ballerina with the New York City Ballet who greatly influenced choreographers George Balanchine (her husband) and Jerome Robbins (her friend). Filmmaker Nancy Buirski spotlights Le Clercq’s ballet career, influence on dance, and her struggle with polio, which paralyzed her at the height of her fame. The film premieres June 20 at 10 pm on PBS.

George Plimpton: Making a Success out of Failure

3m 11s / TV-PG

Writer and journalist George Plimpton (1927–2003) did not show much early promise when he flunked out of the college preparatory school Exeter (Phillips Exeter Academy), where his family held an esteemed reputation. In a film excerpt, Plimpton's son reads his father's essay: "How Failing at Exeter Made a Success of George Plimpton.” Tune in to PBS on Friday, May 16 at 9 pm for the full film.

Ric Burns on George Plimpton's Death

2m 10s / TV-PG

"It was like a light on top of the Empire State Building went out when he died," says filmmaker Ric Burns about Plimpton's death in 2003. "You felt like he couldn't die. His indescribably handsome, boyish quality kept on giving the older he got. His eternally adolescent, prep school energy promised to keep on going." A web exclusive outtake from "Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself."

Plimpton Gives Writer Jay McInerney His Debut

2m 17s / TV-PG

Author Jay McInerney says that George Plimpton "liked to tell people that he had saved me from becoming a pharmacist." It was Plimpton who published McInerney's first story ever in "The Paris Review" in 1982, which formed the basis for the iconic novel, "Bright Lights, Big City." This is a web exclusive outtake from "Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself," airing May 16 at 9 pm on PBS.

George Plimpton at the Helm of The Paris Review

2m 38s / TV-14

George Plimpton was famous for shaping one of the country's most prestigious literary magazines, all while keeping it fun. He encouraged his young staff and created an informal community with plenty of apartment parties and sports activities. Robert Silvers of The New York Review of Books calls Plimpton "a ringmaster of a little circus."

Robert F. Kennedy: Friend and Admirer of George Plimpton

1m 55s

In this film excerpt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recalls his father's admiration for Plimpton. "My father admired George for his courage, he had a curiosity about life and I think that’s the thing that probably attracted my father the most to him," says Kennedy, Jr. "Like my father, he saw life as a great adventure." Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself airs May 16, 2014 at 9 pm on PBS.

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself - Trailer

2m 8s

Co-founder of The Paris Review, George Plimpton (1927–2003) was a fascinated and fascinating journalist who lived fully, strangely and incredibly. With George Plimpton’s own narration, the film includes extensive archival footage of his sport stunts and participatory journalism gigs, and interviews with friends, family and contemporaries. Premieres nationally Friday, May 16, 9-10:30 p.m. on PBS.

Peter Matthiessen Interview About The Paris Review

1m 28s / TV-PG

Writer Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) co-founded the prestigious literary magazine The Paris Review in 1953, along with George Plimpton (whom Matthiessen grew up with and recruited) and Harold L. Humes. In an interview he gave for "Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself," Matthiessen fondly recollects the new writing and established authors featured in The Paris Review.

George Plimpton's Famous April Fool's Day Joke

3m 11s

For the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated, George Plimpton profiled Sidd Finch, an incredible rookie baseball pitcher for The New York Mets. The story was too good to be true, and Plimpton asked his then personal assistant at The Paris Review, the now famous author Jonathan Dee, to keep the joke alive while Plimpton was traveling. Dee recalls the hoax in this web exclusive from Plimpton!

The Workers Who Saved the Amazon Rainforest

2m / TV-14

In the 1980s the fate of the Amazon rainforest turned on an unlikely environmental hero: Chico Mendes (1944 - 1988), a poor rubber tapper and union organizer in Brazil. As cattle ranching and logging threatened the rainforest with deforestation, Mendes formed a workers union that aligned itself with environmentalism. This excerpt is from American Masters: A Fierce Green Fire, premiering 4/22/14.

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