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American Masters
1986 · TV Series · TV-14 · 90 min
★ 6.7(24)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.
~472 hours to watch · 313 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)
- 7.3/10 (24 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)
- PC
Patsy Cline
as Self (archive footage)
- MA
Maya Angelou
as Self
Sidney Lumet
as Self
- OW
Oprah Winfrey
as Self
- CO
Common
as Self
- BC
Bill Clinton
as Self
- JA
Jane Alexander
as Narrator
- DO
Denis O'Hare
as Edgar Allan Poe
Directed by Elaine May, Isaac Halasima, Joe Lauro +27 more
Created by Susan Lacy
Episodes40 seasons · 313 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 Anymore
- S39E8Starring Dick Van Dyke113m
Season 404 episodes
- S40E1Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire
- S40E2Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
- S40E3Bella! This Woman's Place Is in the House102m
- S40E4W.E.B. Du Bois