In 1981, Ken Burns made the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge and then went on to make a string of highly praised and award-winning films. Burns' Emmy and Grammy Award-winning The Civil War garnered universal acclaim and was the highest rated series in the history of American Public Television, attracting an audience of 40 million during its premiere in September 1990. His next landmark project was the Emmy Award-winning 1994 film Baseball, a nearly 20-hour long film that took four and a half years to make.
Ken Burns continued to wow viewers and critics alike when he served as executive producer and creative consultant on 1996's The West, the eight-part, twelve-and-a-half hour film on the American West. He has also made a series of filmed biographies that have aired on PBS including Frank Lloyd Wright, Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and Thomas Jefferson. Ken Burns is currently working on a series of biographies on the lives of Susan B. Anthony and Mark Twain and a series on the history of jazz, scheduled for release in the year 2000.
Critics and viewers agree that Ken Burns' work will remain forever in the archives of American history and in documentary filmmaking as masterpieces. As a speaker, Burns translates his immense storytelling talents from film to a live audience.