American Masters

1Decoding Watson

90 minJan 2, 2019

Meet James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist behind the double helix as he confronts his complex legacy. With unprecedented access to Watson and his family, "American Masters: Decoding Watson" explores his life, achievements, controversies and contradictions.

2Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me

90 minFeb 19, 2019

Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory.

3Charley Pride

90 minFeb 22, 2019

Raised in segregated Mississippi, country performer Charley Pride proves artistic expression can triumph over prejudice and injustice.

4Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives

90 minMar 1, 2019

For 40 years, singer and activist Holly Near works on global social justice coalition-building in the women's and lesbian movements.

5Joseph Pulitzer: Voice Of The People

90 minApr 12, 2019

Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer becomes one of America's most feared and admired newspaper moguls and a crusader for freedom of the press.

6Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable

90 minApr 19, 2019

A documentary about an important American still photographer who captured New York City in the 1960s (his work there is said to have influenced the TV show Mad Men) and later the West in Texas and Los Angeles.

7Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life

90 minJun 14, 2019

Playwright, librettist, scriptwriter and outspoken LGBTQ activist Terrence McNally has long believed in the power of the arts to transform society and make a difference. The film lifts the curtain on the life, career and inspirations of the complicated and brilliant Emmy- and four-time Tony Award-winning writer.

8Robert Shaw -- Man of Many Voices

90 minJun 21, 2019

A profile of the conductor, his work with the civil rights movement, and his musical legacy.

9Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

90 minAug 2, 2019

Explore the remarkable life and legacy of late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin whose groundbreaking work, including “The Left Hand of Darkness,” transformed American literature by bringing science fiction into the literary mainstream.

10Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage

90 minSep 13, 2019

American Masters and Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES join forces to present the first documentary about Raúl Juliá, the versatile Puerto Rican actor whose work on stage and screen took the world by storm. Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage premieres Friday, September 13, 2019 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS Video App in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

11Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous

90 minOct 25, 2019

Explore the life of the celebrated artist whose luminous color field paintings helped define the abstract expressionist movement, which shifted the art world epicenter from Paris to New York.

12N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear

90 minNov 18, 2019

Delve into the enigmatic life and mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.