Ken Burns Bio
Ken Burns (Kenneth Lauren Burnsis) an American filmmaker and also a writer. in film making, he is best known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentary films. His legendary known documentary series include The Civil War in 1990, Baseball in 1994, Jazz in 2001, The War in 2007, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea in 2009, Prohibition in 2011, The Roosevelts in 2014, and The Vietnam War in 2017.
Ken was also the executive producer of both The West in 1996, directed by Stephen Ives, and Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies in 2015, directed by Barak Goodman. Burns’ documentaries have earned him two Academy Award nominations which are each for 1981’s Brooklyn Bridge and 1985’s Statue Of Liberty and have also won several Emmy Awards, among other honors.
Ken Burns Age
Ken was born on 29 July, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He is 65 years old as of 2018.
Ken Burns Height
Burns stands at a height of 5′ 7″ feet (1.7 m)
Ken Burns Net Worth
Ken Burns Wife
Burns was married to Amy Stechler back in 1982. Together they had two daughters namely Sarah and Lily. The couple later divorce in 1993. In 2017, Burns resided in Walpole, New Hampshire, with his second wife, Julie Deborah Brown.
The duo got married on October 18, 2003. Deborah Brown is the founder of the non-profit Room to Grow which helps soon-to-be parents living in poverty. Together the couple has two daughters namely Olivia and Willa Burns.
Ken Burns Brother
Ken Burns Early life and education
Burns was born on July 29, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He is the son of Lyla Smith Burns, a biotechnician (mother), and Robert Kyle Burns (father) at the time a graduate student in cultural anthropology at Columbia University in Manhattan. Kens’ academic family moved frequently.
Amidst places they lived were Saint-Véran, France; Newark, Delaware; and also Ann Arbor where his father lectured at the University of Michigan. Burns’ mother Lyla Smith was found to have breast cancer when he was just 3 and she died when at his 11, a circumstance that he said helped shape his career. He accredited his father-in-law, a psychologist, with a significant insight saying that Burns whole work was an attempt to make people long gone be back alive.
Well-read as a boy, he absorbed the family encyclopedia, preferring history to fiction. Upon getting an 8 mm film movie camera for his 17th birthday, Burns shot a documentary about an Ann Arbor factory. He graduated from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor in the year 1971.
Turning down minimize tuition at the University of Michigan, he went to Hampshire College, an alternative school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where learners are graded through narrative evaluations preferably than letter grades and where students create self-directed academic concentrations alternatively of choosing a traditional major.
Burns worked in a record store to pay for his tuition. Studying under photographers like Jerome Liebling, Elaine Mayes and others, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies and design in the year 1975.
Ken Burns Florentine Films
In 1976, Burns, Elaine Mayes, and his college classmate Roger Sherman established a production company called Florentine Films in Walpole, New Hampshire. The company’s name was gotten from Mayes’ hometown of Florence, Massachusetts.
Another College student from Hampshire, Buddy Squires, was invited to supersede Mayes as a founding member one year behindhand. The three were later joined by another member, Lawrence “Larry” Hott. Hott didn’t actually matriculate at Hampshire, although worked on films there. Hott had started his career as an attorney, having attended neighbouring Western New England Law School.
Every member works independently, yet releases content under the shared name of Florentine Films. As comparable, their individual “subsidiary” companies comprise of Ken Burns Media, Sherman Pictures, and also Hott Productions. Burns’ oldest daughter, Sarah, is also an employee of the company.
Ken Burns Politics
Burns has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, with nearly $40,000 in political donations. In the year 2008, the Democratic National Committee chose him to produce the introductory video for Senator Edward Kennedy’s August 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention, a video explained by Politico as a “Burns-crafted tribute casting him-Kennedy as the modern Ulysses bringing his party home to port.”
In August the following year (2009), Kennedy expired, and Burns produced a small eulogy video at his funeral. While endorsing Barack Obama for the U.S. presidency in December 2007, Burns compared him (Obama) to Abraham Lincoln.
He said that he had planned to be a regular contributor to Countdown together with Keith Olbermann on Current TV. In 2016, he also gave a commencement talk for Stanford University criticizing Donald Trump.
Ken Burns Films|Movies
1981-1990
- Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
- The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984)
- The Statue of Liberty (1985)
- Huey Long (1985)
- The Congress (1988)
- Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
- The Civil War (1990; 9 episodes)
19900-1999
- Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
- Baseball (1994; 9 episodes – updated with The Tenth Inning in 2010, with Lynn Novick)
- Thomas Jefferson (1997)
- Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1998, with Lynn Novick)
- Not For Ourselves Alone: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999)
2001-2012
- Jazz (2001; 10 episodes)
- Mark Twain (2001)
- Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip (2003)
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005)
- The War (2007, with Lynn Novick; 7 episodes)
- The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009; 6 episodes)
- Prohibition (2011, with Lynn Novick; 3 episodes)
- The Dust Bowl (2012; 4 episodes)
- The Central Park Five (2012, with Sarah Burns and David McMahon)
2013-2018
- Yosemite: A Gathering of Spirit (2013)
- The Address (2014)
- The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014; 7 episodes)
- Jackie Robinson (2016, with Sarah Burns and David McMahon)
- Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War (2016)
- The Vietnam War (2017, with Lynn Novick; 10 episodes)
- The Mayo Clinic: Faith – Hope – Science (2018, with Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers)
Future releases
- Country Music (2019)
- Ernest Hemingway (2020, with Lynn Novick)
- Stand-up Comedy (TBA)
- Short films
- William Segal (1992)
- Vezelay (1996)
- In the Marketplace (2000)
- As an executive producer
- The West (1996) (directed by Stephen Ives)
- Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015)(directed by Barak Goodman)
- As an actor
- Gettysburg (film; 1993) – Hancock’s staff officer
- Clifford’s Puppy Days – Season 1, episode 24a (“Lights, Camera, Action”; 2005) – himself
- The Mindy Project – Season 3, episode 11 (“Christmas”; 2014) – himself
Ken Burns Books
- The Vietnam War: An Intimate History (2017)
- Grover Cleveland, Again!: A Treasury of American Presidents (2016)
- Jazz: A History of America’s Music (2000)
- The Roosevelts (2014)
- The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science (2018)
- The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History (2012)
- The National Parks: America’s Best Idea : an Illustrated History (2009)
- Shadow Ball: A History of the Negro Leagues (1994)
- Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
- Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip(2003)
- John McCain: American Maverick (2018)
- The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God : the History and Visions of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing from 1774 to the Present (1987)
- Waking the Dead in Real Time(2012)
- The National Parks: America’s Best Idea : Educator’s Guide (2009)
- The Civil War: Telecourse Student Guide (1999)
- America: Scenic Wonders and Remarkable Sites that Celebrate the Spirit of a Nation (2011)
- Dr. Bob, the Prince of All Twelfth Steppers: How A. A. ‘s Co-Founder Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith Personally Helped More Than 5,000 Alcoholics to be Cured (2007)
- All You Really Need to Know: A Student Success System Designed for the Community College Learner: Including a Specific Section for the Distance Learner (2007)
- Country Music: An Illustrated History (2019)
Ken Burns Documentaries
- The Central Park Five (2012)
- Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
- The Dust Bowl 2012
- Prohibition 2011
- The Statue of Liberty (1985)
- Huey Long (1985)
- Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
- Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015)
- Frank Lloyd Wright 1998
- Unforgivable Blackness (2004)
- Baseball: The Tenth Inning (2010)
- The Congress (1988 film)
- Jackie Robinson 2016
- Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War (2016)
- Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
- Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony (1999)
- Ken Burns American Lives Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip (2003)
- Mark Twain 2001
- Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1992)
- The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984)
- Thomas Jefferson (1997)
- Wordplay 2006
- American Masters Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself (2012)
- The Ken Burns Effect 2016
Ken Burns Awards and honors
- Nomination, Academy Award for Documentary Feature (1982): Brooklyn Bridge (1981);
- Nomination, Academy Award for Documentary Feature (1986): The Statue of Liberty (1985);
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series (1995): Baseball (1994);
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-fiction Series(2010): The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009).
About InformationCradle Editorial Staff
This Article is produced by InformationCradle Editorial Staff which is a team of expert writers and editors led by Josphat Gachie and trusted by millions of readers worldwide.
We endeavor to keep our content True, Accurate, Correct, Original and Up to Date. For complain, correction or an update, please send us an email to informationcradle@gmail.com. We promise to take corrective measures to the best of our abilities.