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American Masters
1986 · TV Series · TV-14 · 90 min
★ 6.6(25)unSUB Rating
DocumentaryMusic
This long-running PBS series presents biography-style documentaries about influential American artists and cultural figures, from writers and musicians to filmmakers and performers. Each episode explores a subject’s life, work, and lasting impact through interviews, commentary, and archival material.
Where to watch
Streaming on YouTube TV, PBS, WETA+ +2 more — or rent from $1.99.
~477 hours to watch · 316 episodes.
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Details
- Years
- 1986
- Release date
- 1986-06-23
- Network
- PBS
- Language
- English
- Rated
- TV-14
- Runtime
- 90 min
- TMDB rating (input)
- 7.0/10 (25 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you like PBS-style artist biographies with interviews, archival excerpts, and lots of context around the work; Not for you if you want fast pacing, drama-first storytelling, or minimal commentary, like in Pavarotti.
Pros: rich biographical detail; thoughtful opinions included; plenty of music clips | Cons: occasional nitpicks; some critical voices linger; uneven focus at times
Themes
- biography
- art
- people
Cast & crew
Scarlett Johansson
as Self
Goran Višnjić
as Robert Capa (voice)
Patsy Cline
as Self (archive footage)
Maya Angelou
as Self
Sidney Lumet
as Self
Oprah Winfrey
as Self
Common
as Self
Bill Clinton
as Self
Jane Alexander
as Narrator
- GM
Graeme Malcom
as John Muir (voice)
Directed by Elaine May, Sally Rosenthal, Rita Coburn Whack +28 more
Created by Susan Lacy
Episodes40 seasons · 316 episodes
Specials1 episode
- S0E1Premiere90m
Season 112 episodes
- S1E1Private Conversations: On the Set of 'Death of a Salesman'90m
- S1E2Philip Johnson, Self Portrait90m
- S1E3Katherine Anne Porter: The Eye of Memory90m
- S1E4The Unknown Chaplin (1)90m
- S1E5The Unknown Chaplin (2)90m
- S1E6The Unknown Chaplin (3)90m
- S1E7Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day90m
- S1E8James Levine: A Life in Music90m
- S1E9Aaron Copland: A Self Portrait90m
- S1E10Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait90m
- S1E11Georgia O'Keeffe90m
- S1E12Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts90m
Season 210 episodes
- S2E1Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer90m
- S2E2Directed by William Wyler90m
- S2E3Rubinstein Remembered90m
- S2E4Nik and Murray90m
- S2E5George Gershwin Remembered90m
- S2E6Maurice Sendak: Mon Cher Papa90m
- S2E7The Negro Ensemble Company90m
- S2E8Unanswered Prayers: The Life and Times of Truman Capote90m
- S2E9The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table90m
- S2E10Buster Keaton: Hard Act to Follow90m
Season 38 episodes
- S3E1Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me90m
- S3E2A Duke Named Ellington90m
- S3E3Andre Kertesz of the Cities90m
- S3E4Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul90m
- S3E5Rivera in America90m
- S3E6Saint-Gaudens: Masque of the Golden Bowl90m
- S3E7Neil Simon: Not Just for Laughs90m
- S3E8Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre90m
Season 410 episodes
- S4E1Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre90m
- S4E2Stella Adler: Awake and Dream!90m
- S4E3Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong90m
- S4E4James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket90m
- S4E5Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker90m
- S4E6Jasper Johns: Ideas in Paint90m
- S4E7Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition90m
- S4E8W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult90m
- S4E9Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius90m
- S4E10Milos Forman: Portrait90m
Season 58 episodes
- S5E1Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer90m
- S5E2John Cassavetes90m
- S5E3Martin Scorsese Directs90m
- S5E4You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story90m
- S5E5Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter90m
- S5E6John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen90m
- S5E7Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret90m
- S5E8John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It90m
Season 69 episodes
- S6E1Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theatre90m
- S6E2Miracle on 44th Street: A Portrait of the Actor's Studio90m
- S6E3A. Einstein: How I See the World90m
- S6E4Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One90m
- S6E5Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days90m
- S6E6Menuhin: A Family Portrait90m
- S6E7Robert Motherwell and the New York School90m
- S6E8Ray Charles: The Genius of Soul90m
- S6E9Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey90m
Season 73 episodes
- S7E1Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time90m
- S7E2George Lucas: Heroes, Myths & Magic90m
- S7E3D.W. Griffith: Father of Film90m
Season 82 episodes
- S8E1Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing90m
- S8E2Martha Graham: The Dancer Revealed90m
Season 94 episodes
- S9E1Rediscovering Will Rogers90m
- S9E2Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage90m
- S9E3Placido Domingo: A Musical Life90m
- S9E4Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul90m
Season 105 episodes
- S10E1Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval90m
- S10E2William Styron: The Way of the Writer90m
- S10E3Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light90m
- S10E4Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud90m
- S10E5Nichols and May: Take Two90m
Season 115 episodes
- S11E1Lena Horne: In Her Own Voice90m
- S11E2Danny Kaye: A Legacy of Laughter90m
- S11E3Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde90m
- S11E4Jack Paar: As I Was Saying90m
- S11E5Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper90m
Season 126 episodes
- S12E1The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg90m
- S12E2Vaudeville90m
- S12E3Billy Wilder: the Human Comedy90m
- S12E4Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart90m
- S12E5Don Hewitt: 90 Minutes on 60 Minutes90m
- S12E6Alexander Calder90m
Season 137 episodes
- S13E1Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note90m
- S13E2The Line King: Al Hirschfeld90m
- S13E3Paul Robeson: Here I Stand90m
- S13E4Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius90m
- S13E5The Lives of Lillian Hellman90m
- S13E6Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer90m
- S13E7Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley90m
Season 147 episodes
- S14E1Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood90m
- S14E2Norman Rockwell: Painting America90m
- S14E3Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For90m
- S14E4Paul Taylor: Dancemaker90m
- S14E5Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light90m
- S14E6Isaac Stern: Life's Virtuoso90m
- S14E7The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation90m
Season 158 episodes
- S15E1Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows90m
- S15E2Mailer On Mailer90m
- S15E3On Cukor90m
- S15E4Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy90m
- S15E5Bob Marley: Rebel Music90m
- S15E6A Conversation with Gregory Peck90m
- S15E7Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye90m
- S15E8Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians90m
Season 168 episodes
- S16E1Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies90m
- S16E2F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams90m
- S16E3Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds90m
- S16E4Quincy Jones: In the Pocket90m
- S16E5Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records90m
- S16E6Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance90m
- S16E7Ralph Ellison: An American Journey90m
- S16E8Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer90m
Season 178 episodes
- S17E1Willie Nelson: Still Is Still Moving90m
- S17E2Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces90m
- S17E3Juilliard90m
- S17E4Alice Waters and her Delicious Revolution90m
- S17E5Joni Mitchell: A Woman of Heart and Mind90m
- S17E6Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied90m
- S17E7Robert Capa: In Love and War90m
- S17E8The Education of Gore Vidal90m
Season 188 episodes
- S18E1Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist90m
- S18E2James Brown: Soul Survivor90m
- S18E3Cary Grant: A Class Apart90m
- S18E4Balanchine90m
- S18E5Judy Garland: By Myself90m
- S18E6Henry Luce and Time-Life's America: A Vision of Empire90m
- S18E7Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues90m
- S18E8Julia! America's Favorite Chef57m
Season 198 episodes
- S19E1James Dean: Sense Memories90m
- S19E2Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice90m
- S19E3George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey90m
- S19E4Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned90m
- S19E5Willa Cather: The Road is All90m
- S19E6Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea90m
- S19E7Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (1)90m
- S19E8Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (2)90m
Season 209 episodes
- S20E1John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend90m
- S20E2The World of Nat King Cole90m
- S20E3Woodie Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home90m
- S20E4Marilyn Monroe: Still Life90m
- S20E5Walter Cronkite: Witness to History90m
- S20E6Andy Warhol: A Documentary (Part 1)113m
- S20E7Andy Warhol: A Documentary (Part 2)115m
- S20E8Sketches of Frank Gehry86m
- S20E9Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens79m
Season 219 episodes
- S21E1Novel Reflections on the American Dream90m
- S21E2Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built90m
- S21E3Les Paul: Chasing Sound90m
- S21E4David Hockney: The Colors of Music90m
- S21E5John James Audubon: Drawn From Nature90m
- S21E6Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends90m
- S21E7Orozco: Man of Fire90m
- S21E8Good Ol' Charles Schulz90m
- S21E9Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character90m
Season 229 episodes
- S22E1Pete Seeger: The Power of Song90m
- S22E2Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun90m
- S22E3Marvin Gaye: What's Going On90m
- S22E4You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (1923-1935)90m
- S22E5You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: Good War, Uneasy Peace (1935-1950)90m
- S22E6You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: A New Reality (1950-1970)90m
- S22E7You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: Woodstock Notions (1970-1989)90m
- S22E8You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story: The Big Tent (1980-Present)90m
- S22E9The Brothers Warner90m
Season 238 episodes
- S23E1Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About90m
- S23E2Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts90m
- S23E3Hollywood Chinese90m
- S23E4Neil Young: Don't Be Denied90m
- S23E5Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes90m
- S23E6Trumbo90m
- S23E7Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound90m
- S23E8Louisa May Alcott: the Woman Behind 'Little Women'90m
Season 248 episodes
- S24E1Sam Cooke: Crossing Over90m
- S24E2I.M. Pei: Building China Modern90m
- S24E3The Doors: When You're Strange90m
- S24E4Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself90m
- S24E5Cachao: Uno Más90m
- S24E6A Letter to Elia90m
- S24E7Lennon NYC90m
- S24E8Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould90m
Season 259 episodes
- S25E1Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides90m
- S25E2Troubadors: Carole King/James Taylor & the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter90m
- S25E3John Muir in the New World90m
- S25E4James Levine: America's Maestro90m
- S25E5Pearl Jam Twenty90m
- S25E6Bill T. Jones: A Good Man90m
- S25E7Woody Allen: A Documentary (1)90m
- S25E8Woody Allen: A Documentary (2)90m
- S25E9Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter90m
Season 268 episodes
- S26E1Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune90m
- S26E2Cab Calloway: Sketches90m
- S26E3Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel90m
- S26E4Harper Lee: Hey, Boo90m
- S26E5Johnny Carson: King of Late Night90m
- S26E6The Day Carl Sandburg Died90m
- S26E7Inventing David Geffen90m
- S26E8Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance90m
Season 275 episodes
- S27E1Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll90m
- S27E2Philip Roth: Unmasked90m
- S27E3Mel Brooks: Make a Noise90m
- S27E4Billie Jean King90m
- S27E5Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin'90m
Season 2810 episodes
- S28E1Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love90m
- S28E2Salinger90m
- S28E3Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth90m
- S28E4A Fierce Green Fire90m
- S28E5Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself90m
- S28E6Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun90m
- S28E7Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning90m
- S28E8Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work90m
- S28E9The Boomer List90m
- S28E10Bing Crosby Rediscovered90m
Season 298 episodes
- S29E1Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice90m
- S29E2August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand90m
- S29E3Jascha Heifetz: God's Fiddler90m
- S29E4American Ballet Theatre: A History90m
- S29E5Harper Lee90m
- S29E6Althea90m
- S29E7Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey90m
- S29E8The Women's List90m
Season 309 episodes
- S30E1Mike Nichols90m
- S30E2B.B. King: The Life of Riley90m
- S30E3Carole King: Natural Woman90m
- S30E4Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll90m
- S30E5Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl90m
- S30E6Janis: Little Girl Blue90m
- S30E7The Highwaymen: Friends Till the End90m
- S30E8Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You90m
- S30E9Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future90m
Season 3110 episodes
- S31E1By Sidney Lumet90m
- S31E2Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise90m
- S31E3Patsy Cline90m
- S31E4James Beard: America's First Foodie90m
- S31E5Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft90m
- S31E6Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny90m
- S31E7Tyrus90m
- S31E8Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive90m
- S31E9Inspiring Woman Web Series90m
- S31E10This is Bob Hope90m
Season 328 episodes
- S32E1Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart90m
- S32E2Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story90m
- S32E3Ted Williams: “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived”90m
- S32E4Artists Flight: Eva Hesse90m
- S32E5Artists Flight: Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray90m
- S32E6Andrew Wyeth90m
- S32E7Basquiat: Rage to Riches90m
- S32E8Itzhak Perlman90m
Season 3312 episodes
- S33E1Decoding Watson90m
- S33E2Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me90m
- S33E3Charley Pride90m
- S33E4Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives90m
- S33E5Joseph Pulitzer: Voice Of The People90m
- S33E6Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable90m
- S33E7Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life90m
- S33E8Robert Shaw -- Man of Many Voices90m
- S33E9Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin90m
- S33E10Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage90m
- S33E11Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous90m
- S33E12N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear90m
Season 348 episodes
- S34E1Miles Davis Birth of the Cool90m
- S34E2Mae West: Dirty Blonde90m
- S34E3Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am90m
- S34E4Unladylike2020: The Changemakers90m
- S34E5Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip90m
- S34E6Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is90m
- S34E7Keith Haring: Street Art Boy90m
- S34E8Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page90m
Season 3510 episodes
- S35E1How It Feels to Be Free90m
- S35E2Flannery90m
- S35E3Twyla Moves90m
- S35E4Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story90m
- S35E5Oliver Sacks: His Own Life90m
- S35E6Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir90m
- S35E7Ballerina Boys90m
- S35E8Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away83m
- S35E9Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It88m
- S35E10Becoming Helen Keller88m
Season 368 episodes
- S36E1Ailey84m
- S36E2Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands113m
- S36E3Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha84m
- S36E4Joe Papp in Five Acts
- S36E5Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road84m
- S36E6Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On90m
- S36E7The Adventures of Saul Bellow83m
- S36E8Groucho & Cavett82m
Season 379 episodes
- S37E1Roberta Flack90m
- S37E2Dr. Tony Fauci
- S37E3In the Making
- S37E4Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
- S37E5Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll90m
- S37E6Jerry Brown: The Disrupter
- S37E7Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely82m
- S37E8A Song for Cesar82m
- S37E9Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes82m
Season 387 episodes
- S38E1HOPPER: An American Love Story53m
- S38E2Moynihan105m
- S38E3The Incomparable Mr. Buckley
- S38E4Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames
- S38E5Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined
- S38E6Renegades: Daniel K. Inouye
- S38E7Brenda Lee: Rockin' Around
Season 398 episodes
- S39E1The Disappearance of Miss Scott
- S39E2LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story134m
- S39E3Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse120m
- S39E4Janis Ian: Breaking Silence150m
- S39E5Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny120m
- S39E6Marcella83m
- S39E7Marlee Matlin Not Alone Anymore97m
- S39E8Starring Dick Van Dyke113m
Season 407 episodes
- S40E1Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire84m
- S40E2Sun Ra: Do the Impossible84m
- S40E3Bella! This Woman's Place Is in the House106m
- S40E4W.E.B. Du Bois120m
- S40E5Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World83m
- S40E6American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
- S40E7Liz Diller