Ken Burns

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the English football referee, see Ken Burns (referee). For other people named Kenneth Burns, see Kenneth Burns (disambiguation).

Ken Burns
Burns in 2018
Born
Kenneth Lauren Burns

(1953-07-29) July 29, 1953 (age 70)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma materHampshire College (BA)
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1970–present
Notable work
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
  • Amy Stechler Burns
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1982; div. 1993)​
  • Julie Deborah Brown
    ​
    (m. 2003)​
Children
RelativesRic Burns (brother)
Websitekenburns.com

Kenneth Lauren Burns

filmmaker and historian known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV and/or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed by PBS
.

His widely known documentary series include

Emmy Awards
, among other honors.

Early life and education

Burns was born on July 29, 1953,[1] in Brooklyn, New York, to Lyla Smith (née Tupper) Burns,[3] a biotechnician,[4] and Robert Kyle Burns Jr., at the time a graduate student in cultural anthropology at Columbia University in Manhattan.[3] The documentary filmmaker Ric Burns is his younger brother.[5][6]

Burns's academic family moved frequently. Among places they called home were Saint-Véran, France; Newark, Delaware; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his father taught at the University of Michigan.[4]

Burns's mother was found to have breast cancer when he was three, and she died when he was 11,[4] a circumstance that he said helped shape his career; he credited his psychologist father-in-law, Gerald Stechler,[7] with a significant insight: "He told me that my whole work was an attempt to make people long gone come back alive."[4] Well-read as a child, he absorbed the family encyclopedia, preferring history to fiction.

Upon receiving an 8 mm film movie camera for his 17th birthday, he shot a documentary about an Ann Arbor factory. He graduated from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor in 1971.[8] Turning down reduced tuition at the University of Michigan, he attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where students are graded through narrative evaluations rather than letter grades and where students create self-directed academic concentrations instead of choosing a traditional major.[4]

Burns worked in a record store to pay his tuition. Living on as little as $2,500 in two years in Walpole, New Hampshire,[9] Burns studied under photographers Jerome Liebling, Elaine Mayes, and others. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies and design[10] in 1975.[4]

Florentine Films

In 1976, Burns, Elaine Mayes, and college classmate

Western New England Law School.[11]

Each member works independently, but releases content under the shared name of Florentine Films.[13] As such, their individual "subsidiary" companies include Ken Burns Media, Sherman Pictures, and Hott Productions. Burns's oldest child, Sarah, is also an employee of the company as of 2020.[14]

Career

Burns speaks at the Library of Congress in 2019

Burns initially worked as a

Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and ran on PBS
in the United States.

Following another documentary,

The Vietnam War
(aired September 2017).

Burns has built a long, successful career directing and producing well-received television documentaries and documentary

All Media Guide says "many consider his 'chef d'oeuvre'").[15]

In 2007, Burns made an agreement with PBS to produce work for the network well into the next decade.

Public Broadcasting System, co-produced and directed by Burns and Lynn Novick.[19]

Personal life

In 1982, Burns married Amy Stechler. The couple had two daughters, Sarah and Lilly.[20][10] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1993.

As of 2017, Burns was residing in Walpole, New Hampshire. He and Julie Deborah Brown, daughter of Leslie Mundjer and the Smith Barney senior vice president Richard Brown and stepdaughter of Ellen Brown, married on October 18, 2003. Julie Deborah Brown founded Room to Grow, a non-profit providing aid to babies in poor families.[21] They have two daughters.

Burns is a descendant of

Loyalist allegiance during the American Revolution.[24]

Burns is an avid

University of Nebraska from January 19 to May 13, 2018.[25]

When asked if he would ever make a film regarding his mother Lyla, Burns responded: "All of my films are about her. I don't think I could do it directly, because of how intensely painful it is."[4]

Politics

Burns is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, describing himself as a “Yellow dog Democrat” and contributing almost $40,000 in political donations.[26] In 2008, the Democratic National Committee chose Burns to produce the introductory video for Senator Ted Kennedy's August 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention, a video described by Politico as a "Burns-crafted tribute casting him [Kennedy] as the modern Ulysses bringing his party home to port."[27][28]

In August 2009, Kennedy died, and Burns produced a short eulogy video at his funeral. In endorsing Barack Obama for the U.S. presidency in December 2007, Burns compared Obama to Abraham Lincoln.[29] He said he had planned to be a regular contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV.[30] In 2016, he also gave a commencement speech for Stanford University criticizing Donald Trump.[31][32]

In 2020, Burns endorsed Ed Markey in the Massachusetts Senate Democratic Primary.[33]

In 2023, a 2013 photograph of Ken Burns and

Pro Publica article about Justice Thomas' ties to right wing activists.[34] Burns stated that the encounter was a brief social encounter resulting from Charles Koch's support of PBS programming.[35]

Awards and honors

The Central Park Five
 in 2014

Altogether Burns's work has garnered several awards, including two Oscar nominations, two Grammy Awards and 15 Emmy Awards.[16][36]

The Civil War received more than 40 major film and television awards, including two

D. W. Griffith Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize.[39][40][41]

In 1991, Burns received the National Humanities Medal, then called the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities.

In 1991, Burns received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[42]

In 2004, Burns received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[43]

In 2008 Burns was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award.[16]

In 2008 Burns received The Lincoln Forum's

Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement.[44]

In 2010, the National Parks Conservation Association honored him and Dayton Duncan with the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has effectively communicated the values of the National Park System to the American public.[45] As of 2010, there is a Ken Burns Wing at the Jerome Liebling Center for Film, Photography and Video at Hampshire College.[46]

Burns was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011.[47]

In 2012, Burns received the Washington University International Humanities Medal.[48] The medal, awarded biennially and accompanied by a cash prize of $25,000, is given to honor a person whose humanistic endeavors in scholarship, journalism, literature, or the arts have made a difference in the world. Past winners include Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk in 2006, journalist Michael Pollan in 2008, and novelist and nonfiction writer Francine Prose in 2010.[49]

In 2013, Burns received the John Steinbeck Award, an award presented annually by Steinbeck's eldest son, Thomas, in collaboration with the John Steinbeck Family Foundation, San Jose State University, and The National Steinbeck Center.[50]

In May 2015, Burns gave the commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis and received an honorary doctorate of humanities.[51]

Burns was the

Pasadena Tournament of Roses' Rose Parade on New Year's Day in Pasadena, California.[52] The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Burns to deliver the 2016 Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities, on the topic of race in America.[53] He was the 2017 recipient of The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal at Vanderbilt University.[54]

In 2019, he received an honorary degree from Brown University.[55]

In 2022 he served as the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania and received an Honorary Doctor of Arts.[56]

Style

Burns frequently incorporates simple musical leitmotifs or melodies. For example, The Civil War features a distinctive violin melody throughout, "Ashokan Farewell", which was performed for the film by its composer, fiddler Jay Ungar. One critic noted, "One of the most memorable things about The Civil War was its haunting, repeated violin melody, whose thin, yearning notes seemed somehow to sum up all the pathos of that great struggle."[57]

Ken Burns effect

Burns often gives life to still photographs by slowly zooming out subjects of interest and panning from one subject to another. It has long been used in film production where it is known as the "

Final Cut Pro X
software applications. Burns stated in a 2009 interview that he initially declined to have his name associated with the software because of his stance to refuse commercial endorsements. However, Apple chief Steve Jobs negotiated to give Burns Apple equipment, which Burns donated to nonprofit organizations.[58]

As a museum retrospective noted, "His PBS specials [are] strikingly out of step with the visual pyrotechnics and frenetic pacing of most reality-based TV programming, relying instead on techniques that are literally decades old, although Burns reintegrates these constituent elements into a wholly new and highly complex textual arrangement."[10]

In a 2011 interview, Burns stated that he admires and is influenced by filmmaker Errol Morris.[59]

Filmography

Conversation with Ken Burns about
The Vietnam War
. Video by the LBJ Library

Future releases

  • Leonardo da Vinci (2024, with Sarah Burns and David McMahon)[81]
  • The American Revolution (2025)[82]
  • Henry David Thoreau (2025/2026, as Executive Producer)[83]
  • Emancipation to Exodus (2027, with David McMahon, Sarah Burns, and Erika Dilday)[84][85]
  • LBJ & the Great Society (2028, with Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein)[86]

Short films

These three short films are collected and distributed together as Seeing, Searching, Being: William Segal.

  • William Segal (1992)[87]
  • Vezelay (1996)[88]
  • In the Marketplace (2000)

As an executive producer

  • The West (1996) (directed by Stephen Ives)[89]
  • Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015)[2] (directed by Barak Goodman)
  • Walden (short, 2017) (directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers)[90]
  • Country Music: Live at the Ryman, a Concert Celebrating the Film by Ken Burns (2019) (directed by Don Carr)[91]
  • College Behind Bars (2019) (directed by Lynn Novick)[92]
  • East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story (2020) (directed by Sarah Burns and David McMahon)[93]
  • The Gene: An Intimate History (2020) (directed by Chris Durrance and Jack Youngelson)[94]
  • Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness (2022) (directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers)[95]

As an actor

  • Gettysburg (film; 1993) – Hancock's staff officer[96]
  • Clifford's Puppy Days – Season 1, episode 24a ("Lights, Camera, Action"; 2005) – self
  • The Simpsons:
    • Season 14, episode 10 ("Pray Anything"; 2003) - self/ did not voiced
    • Season 22, episode 22 ("
      The Ned-liest Catch
      "; 2012) - self/ voiced
    • Season 24, episode 1 ("Moonshine River"; 2012) – self/ voiced
    • Season 30, episode 22 ("Woo-Hoo Dunnit?"; 2019) – self/ voiced
    • Season 35, episode 4 ("Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story"; 2023) - self/ voiced
  • The Mindy Project – Season 3, episode 11 ("Christmas"; 2014) – self/ voiced
  • Difficult People – Season 2, episode 4 ("Blade Stallion"; 2016) – self/ voiced

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Listed as "Kenneth Lauren Burns"

References

  1. ^ a b "Ken Burns Biography (1953–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (March 27, 2015). "Review: In 'Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,' Battling an Opportunistic Killer". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Ken Burns. Encyclopedia of World Biography via BookRags.com. n.d.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Walsh, Joan (1994). "Good Eye. The Interview With Ken Burns: The renowned filmmaker of 'The Civil War' turns his eye from the nation's past to our national pastime". San Francisco Focus. KQED via Online-Communicator.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012.
  5. ^ "Ken Burns". biography at FlorentineFilms.com. n.d. Archived from the original on May 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Wadler, Joyce (November 17, 1999). "PUBLIC LIVES; No Civil War, but a Brotherly Indifference". The New York Times. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  7. ^ "GERALD STECHLER OBITUARY". The New York Times. December 19, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  8. ^ Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation, [1] (accessed October 29, 2013, recovered from Internet Archive).
  9. ^ "The Online Communicator: Ken Burns". Online-communicator.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  10. ^
    The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived
    from the original on June 29, 2011.
  11. ^ a b "The Florentine Four: Ken Burns and Partners Look Back on 30 Years of Documentary Production". International Documentary Association. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  12. ^ "Outstanding Documentary Achievement in Cinematography Award: The Visual Poet: Buddy Squires". International Documentary Association. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  13. ^ "Florentine Films – Burns, Hott, Sherman & Squires". Florentinefilms.com. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  14. ^ "The Filmmakers – Ken Burns". kenburns.com. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Erickson, Hal (2007). "Ken Burns biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2011. This single source gives two birthplaces. Under the header list, it reads "Birthplace: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA." In the prose biography, it reads "Brooklyn-born Ken Burns..."
  16. ^ a b c MasterClass. "Academy Award Nominated and Emmy Winner Ken Burns Joins MasterClass to Teach Documentary Filmmaking" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  17. ^ "Ken Burns | Biography, Documentaries, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  18. ^ Parker, Ian (September 4, 2017). "Ken Burns's American Canon". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  19. News & Observer
    , Brooke Cain, April 5, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  20. ^ "Lilly Burns". IMDb.com. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  21. ^ "Weddings/Celebrations; Julie Brown, Ken Burns". The New York Times. October 19, 2003. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011.
  22. ^ Stated on Finding Your Roots, PBS, October 7, 2014
  23. ^ "Nerding Out with Ken Burns & Rebranding Marijuana". Public Radio International.
  24. ^ Whitall, Susan (September 23, 2014). "Henry Louis Gates probes celebs' origins on PBS". The Detroit News. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  25. ^ "'Uncovered: The Ken Burns Collection' Opens". International Quilt Study Center & Museum. January 8, 2018. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  26. ^ "Ken Burns's Federal Campaign Contribution Report". Newsmeat. Archived from the original on August 15, 2011.
  27. M.E. Sprengelmeyer (August 24, 2008). "Filmmaker Ken Burns behind documentary tribute to Sen. Ted Kennedy". Rocky Mountain News. Archived
    from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  28. ^ Rogers, David (August 26, 2008). "Ailing Kennedy: 'The dream lives on'". Politico. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  29. ^ MacGillis, Alec (December 18, 2007). "Ken Burns Compares Obama to Lincoln". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  30. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (May 11, 2011). "Michael Moore to Be a Contributor on Keith Olbermann's New Show". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  31. ^ Gladnick, P. J. (June 12, 2016). "Prepared text of the 2016 Stanford Commencement address by Ken Burns". Stanford News. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  32. ^ "Filmmaker Ken Burns destroys Donald Trump during Stanford Speech". Film Industry Network. June 13, 2016.
  33. ^ "Filmmaker Ken Burns Endorses Ed Markey for United States Senate". Ed Markey for Senate.
  34. ^ Kaplan, Joshua; Elliot, Justin; Mierjeski, Alex (September 22, 2023). "Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events". Pro Publica. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  35. ^ Huston, Kaitlin (September 22, 2023). "Ken Burns Distances Himself From Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas After Photo". Variety. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  36. ^ "About the filmmakers". Pbs.org. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  37. ^ "The 54th Academy Awards | 1982". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
  38. ^ "The 58th Academy Awards | 1986". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
  39. ^ The Civil War, retrieved September 19, 2017
  40. ^ "Nonesuch Records The Civil War [Soundtrack]". Nonesuch.com. November 30, 1990. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  41. ^ "About the Series | The Civil War | PBS". Pbs.org. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  42. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  43. ^ "National Winners | public service awards". Jefferson Awards.org. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  44. ^ The Lincoln Forum
  45. ^ "Awards and Recognition". National Parks Conservation Association.
  46. ^ "Hampshire College – The Ken Burns Wing". Kuhn Riddle Architects. 2010. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012.
  47. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  48. ^ "Ken Burns Recognized for Epic Contributions to the Humanities" Archived June 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Washington Magazine, February 2013.
  49. ^ "Washington University's International Humanities Medal | the Figure in the Carpet". Archived from the original on September 30, 2015.
  50. ^ "Ken Burns to Receive Steinbeck Award". SJSU News. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  51. ^ "Ken Burns' 2015 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis". The Source. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  52. ^ Cormaci, Carol (November 10, 2015). "Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns named 2016 Rose Parade grand marshal". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  53. ^ Manly, Lorne (January 18, 2016). "Ken Burns to Discuss Race in Jefferson Lecture". The New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  54. ^ Patterson, Jim. "Follow the better angels of their nature, grads are told". Vanderbilt University.
  55. ^ "Ken Burns, John Krasinski to get honorary degrees from Brown University". providencejournal.com.
  56. ^ "Penn's 2022 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipients". University of Pennsylvania Alamanac.
  57. ^ Kamiya, Gary (n.d.). "Shame and Glory: The West holds a mirror before the double face of a nation". Salon.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2009.
  58. ^ Allen, Austin (December 10, 2009). "Big Think Interview with Ken Burns". Big Think. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  59. ^ Bragg, Meredith; Gillespie, Nick (October 3, 2011). "Ken Burns on PBS Funding, Being a 'Yellow-Dog Democrat,' & Missing Walter Cronkite". Reason. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012.
  60. ^ Frank Lloyd Wright, retrieved December 5, 2019
  61. ^ "Not for Ourselves Alone. JMMH video review". www.albany.edu. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  62. ^ "Home | Ken Burns". Jazz. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  63. ^ "Home | Ken Burns". Horatio's Drive. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  64. ^ "Home | Ken Burns". Unforgivable Blackness. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  65. ^ "Prohibition". PBS.org. 2011. Archived from the original on May 4, 2012.
  66. ^ "Ken Burns Seeking Dustbowl Stories". OETA. Archived from the original on September 6, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  67. ^ a b "Introduction". FlorentineFilms.com. n.d. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013.
  68. ^ The World Premiere of Yosemite: A Gathering of Spirit Archived October 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Yosemite Conservancy Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  69. ^ "Q&A: Ken Burns Discusses His New Documentary, The Address". National Geographic News. April 5, 2014. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  70. AP News
    . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  71. ^ Cladwell, Evita (May 14, 2014). "Filmmaker Ken Burns discusses upcoming projects, Wash U commencement speech, more". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  72. ^ "Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War; A new film directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky". Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  73. ^ "Vietnam". Ken Burns media. August 26, 2015.
  74. ^ "Upcoming Films". Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  75. ^ "Ernest Hemingway". Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  76. ^ "Ali". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  77. ^ "Benjamin Franklin". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  78. ^ "The Holocaust & the United States". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  79. ^ "Ken Burns". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  80. ^ Mabie, Nora (January 18, 2023). "New Ken Burns film on buffalo includes Indigenous voices from Montana". Missoulian. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  81. ^ "Ken Burns". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  82. ^ Hayes, Dade (December 15, 2023). "Ken Burns on 'Complicated Narrative' Of His Forthcoming Revolutionary War Project, Busting 1776 Myths And Looking Afresh At George Washington". Deadline Hollywood.
  83. ^ "Henry David Thoreau". Ken Burns. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  84. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  85. ^ "Emancipation to Exodus". Ken Burns. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  86. ^ "LBJ & the Great Society". Ken Burns. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  87. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  88. ^ "The Accidental Historian: Ken Burns Mines America's Past". International Documentary Association. December 10, 2002. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  89. ^ "PBS – THE WEST – Stephen Ives". www.pbs.org. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  90. ^ "Walden". ewers brothers production. Archived from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  91. Public Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original
    on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  92. ^ "College Behind Bars | PBS" – via www.pbs.org.
  93. ^ "East Lake Meadows". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  94. Realscreen
    . Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  95. ^ "Hiding in Plain Sight". Ken Burns. Ken Burns Media, LLC. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  96. ^ "Part I: My experience on set of the movie "Gettysburg"". National Museum of American History. October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ken Burns.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ken Burns.