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 describes his family as hippies.[7]
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,[8] 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.[9] 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,[10] Burns studied under photographers Jerome Liebling, Elaine Mayes, and others, describing Liebling as his "principal mentor."[7] He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies and design[11] in 1975.[4]
Florentine Films
In 1976, Burns, Elaine Mayes, and college classmate Roger Sherman founded a production company called Florentine Films in Walpole, New Hampshire. The company's name was borrowed from Mayes's hometown of Florence, Massachusetts. Another Hampshire College student, Buddy Squires, was invited to succeed Mayes as a founding member one year later.[12][13] The trio were later joined by a fourth member, Lawrence "Larry" Hott. Hott did not actually matriculate at Hampshire, but worked on films there. Hott had begun his career as an attorney, having attended nearby Western New England Law School.[12]
Each member works independently, but releases content under the shared name of Florentine Films.[14] 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.[15]
Burns initially worked as a cinematographer for the BBC, Italian television, and others. In 1977, having completed some documentary short films, he began work on adapting David McCullough's book The Great Bridge, about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.[11] Developing a signature style of documentary filmmaking in which he "adopted the technique of cutting rapidly from one still picture to another in a fluid, linear fashion [and] then pepped up the visuals with 'first hand' narration gleaned from contemporary writings and recited by top stage and screen actors",[16] Burns made the feature documentary Brooklyn Bridge (1981),[17] which was narrated by David McCullough, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and ran on PBS in the United States.
In 1982, Burns married Amy Stechler. The couple had two daughters, Sarah and Lilly.[21][11] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1993.
As of 2017[update], Burns was residing in Walpole, New Hampshire. He and Julie Deborah Brown, daughter of Leslie Mundjer and the Smith Barneysenior 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.[22] They have two daughters.
Burns is an avid quilt collector. About one-third of the quilts from his personal collection were displayed at The International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska from January 19 to May 13, 2018.[26] Burns is also an avid fan of the New York Times crossword puzzle, appearing in the documentary Wordplay, and in a 2022 interview he says he completes the puzzle every day.[7]
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]
In 2020, Burns endorsed Ed Markey in the Massachusetts Senate Democratic Primary.[34]
In 2022, Burns described the Republican Party as "the party of white supremacy."[7]
In 2023, a 2013 photograph of Ken Burns and Clarence Thomas at a Koch Brothers fund raising event was made public in a Pro Publica article about Justice Thomas' ties to right wing activists.[35] Burns stated that the encounter was a brief social encounter resulting from Charles Koch's support of PBS programming.[36]
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.[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.[46]As of 2010[update], there is a Ken Burns Wing at the Jerome Liebling Center for Film, Photography and Video at Hampshire College.[47]
In 2012, Burns received the Washington University International Humanities Medal.[49] 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.[50]
In 2022 he served as the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania and received an Honorary Doctor of Arts.[57]
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."[58]
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 "rostrum camera". This technique, possible in many professional and home software applications, is now termed the "Ken Burns effect" in Apple's iPhoto, iMovie, and 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.[59]
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."[11]
In a 2011 interview, Burns stated that he admires and is influenced by filmmaker Errol Morris.[60]
Filmography
Conversation with Ken Burns about The Vietnam War. Video by the LBJ Library
The Civil War is a 1990 American television documentary miniseries created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was the first broadcast to air on PBS for five consecutive nights, from September 23 to 27, 1990.
Peter Coyote is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Bitter Moon (1992), Kika (1993), Patch Adams (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002) and Femme Fatale (2002).
Geoffrey Champion Ward is an American editor, author, historian and writer of scripts for American history documentaries for public television. He is the author or co-author of 19 books, including 10 companion books to the documentaries he has written. He is the winner of seven Emmy Awards.
The War is a seven-part American television documentary miniseries about World War II from the perspective of the United States. The program was directed by American filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, written by Geoffrey Ward, and narrated primarily by Keith David. It premiered on September 23, 2007. The world premiere of the series took place at the Palace Theater in Luverne, Minnesota, one of the towns featured in the documentary. It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Ric Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War (1990), which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey Ward.
William Edward Leuchtenburg is an American historian. He is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a leading scholar of the life and career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The Congress is a 1988 documentary film directed by the Emmy Award-winning director Ken Burns. The Florentine Films production, which focuses on the United States Congress, aired on PBS on March 20, 1989.
Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery is a 1997 television documentary miniseries about the Lewis and Clark Expedition directed and co-produced by Ken Burns. It is produced by Burns' Florentine Films for Washington, DC PBS station WETA-TV, first aired on PBS on November 4 and 5, 1997.
Prohibition is a 2011 American television documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick with narration by Peter Coyote. The series originally aired on PBS between October 2, 2011 and October 4, 2011. It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It draws heavily from the 2010 book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent.
Lynn Novick is an American director and producer of documentary films, widely known for her work with Ken Burns.
Roger M. Sherman is an American filmmaker – a cinematographer, director, producer, still photographer, and author best known for his work in documentary cinema. He is a founder of Florentine Films. His most widely recognized documentaries are Alexander Calder (1998), Richard Rogers: The Sweetest Sounds (2001), Don't Divorce the Children (1989), Medal of Honor (2008), The Restaurateur (2010), Zapruder and Stolley: Witness to an Assassination (2011), his upcoming two-hour PBS special, The Search for Israeli Cuisine, The Rhythm of My Soul (2006), and The American Brew (2007). His films have won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and two Academy Award nominations, among other honors.
The Vietnam War is a 10-part American television documentary series about the Vietnam War written by Geoffrey C. Ward and directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. The first episode premiered on PBS on September 17, 2017. The script is by Geoffrey Ward, and the series is narrated by Peter Coyote. This series is one of the few PBS series to carry a TV-MA rating.
Lawrence "Larry" Hott is an American academic and documentary filmmaker.
The Vietnam War (Original Score) is an electronic soundtrack album by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's television documentary series The Vietnam War which first aired on PBS in September 2017. The album was released on vinyl, CD and digitally on September 15, 2017 by Universal Music Enterprises and Reznor's own label The Null Corporation.
Sarah Burns is an American author, public speaker, and filmmaker. She is the author of The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding. She is also the co-producer and director for the documentary film The Central Park Five which she co-produced and directed with her husband David McMahon and her father Ken Burns.
Lo Khac Tam is a former Vietnamese lieutenant general who fought for the army of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
The Better Angels Society is a 501(c)3 organization that was founded by supporters of Ken Burns to raise funds for his work from individuals of wealth and private family foundations. They have grown into the preeminent organization dedicated to engaging Americans with their history through documentary film. Katherine Malone-France was appointed President & CEO in 2023, taking the reins from Amy Margerum Berg who served as the organization's president between 2016-2023.
Hemingway is a documentary film on the life of Ernest Hemingway produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It first aired on PBS in April 2021.
The U.S. and the Holocaust is a 2022 three-part documentary miniseries about the United States' response to the Holocaust. The series was directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein, and was written by frequent Burns collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward.
Sarah Botstein is an American documentary film producer. She has worked with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on The U.S. and the Holocaust, Hemingway, College Behind Bars, The Vietnam War, Prohibition, The War, and Jazz.
1 2 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..."
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