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| Biography | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Created by | David L. Wolper |
| Presented by |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30/60/120 minutes |
| Production companies | Wolper Productions (1961–1963, 1979) ABC News Productions[1] |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | February 1962 (1962-02) – 1964 (1964) |
| Release | 1979 (1979) |
| Network |
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| Release | April 6, 1987 (1987-04-06) – 2012 (2012) |
| Related | |
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Biography is an Americandocumentary television series andmedia franchise created in the 1960s byDavid L. Wolper and owned byA&E Networks since 1987. Each episode depicts the life of a notable person with narration, on-camera interviews, photographs, andstock footage. The show originally ran insyndication in 1962–1964, and in 1979, onA&E from 1987 to 2006, and on The Biography Channel (later Bio, nowFYI) from 2006 to 2012. After a five-year hiatus, the franchise was relaunched in 2017. Over the years, theBiography media franchise has expanded domestically and internationally, spinning off several cable television channels, a website, a children's program, a line of books and records, and a series of made-for-TV movies, specials, and miniseries, among other media properties.Biography has won aPeabody Award (1962) and threeEmmy Awards (1997, 1999, 2002).
Biography began as an early 1960s syndicated television series produced byDavid Wolper and narrated byMike Wallace. It won a Peabody Award, launched Wallace's journalism career, and became a standard in biography films, widely shown in classrooms. After a one-year revival in 1979, the show returned on A&E Networks in 1987. In 1990, A&E began producing new episodes, and expanded the show into a multimedia franchise. By the turn of the century,Biography became A&E's "flagship" program, winning three Emmy Awards, growing from one night per week to seven, and spawning its own cable television channel, several spin-off shows, a website, made-for-TV movies, mini-series, books, audio books, records, and even a board game. The show's ratings eventually slipped and its airtime was reduced to one night per week, then exclusive to The Biography Channel (nowFYI). Production of new episodes ceased in 2011 andBiography was almost entirely off the air by 2012. In 2017, A&E relaunched theBiography franchise with a series of TV specials and miniseries. As of 2022, episodes are also shown onStory Television.
The originalBiography was produced by David Wolper andJack Haley Jr. and narrated by Mike Wallace, who at the time was just beginning his award-winning journalism career. The show featured no interviews, consisting instead of a half hour of film clips,newsreel footage, still photographs and recordings.[3]
Production began in 1961 and the show was distributed insyndication[3] byOfficial Films,[2] premiering in February 1962.[3] The 1960s series profiled world leaders (Winston Churchill), contemporary U.S. politicians (Fiorello H. La Guardia,Joseph McCarthy), athletes (Babe Ruth andKnute Rockne), and other 20th-century notables, including generals, authors, scientists, actors, and all the modern U.S. Presidents.[3][4][5]
The program became popular in syndication, and in 1962, won aPeabody Award (Television Education), the first of several for both Wolper and Wallace.Biography has been credited with turning Wallace's journalism career around, and in 1963, he left to joinThe CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace, and, later, 60 Minutes.Biography stopped releasing new episodes in 1964, although some episodes continued to be used as educational films in classrooms, became standards for filmed biographies of the persons profiled, and it played for decades in syndication.[3][4][5] The series was briefly revived for syndication in 1979 with hostDavid Janssen, profilingIdi Amin andWalt Disney, among others.[3]
The Arts & Entertainment Network (now A&E), a joint venture started in 1984 byABC,NBC, theHearst Corporation, and theRockefeller Group, acquired the broadcast rights toBiography and began airing the show on Tuesday nights at 8pm beginning on April 6, 1987, withPeter Graves as host. In the words of one observer, A&E'sBiography "picked up where Wolper left off."[4]
In 1990, A&E acquired the rights to theBiography trademark and library, and began producing new episodes of the show, which expanded the subjects from historical figures to contemporary figures, including political leaders and popular celebrities, and which changed the program from one that reported history to one that recorded it as it unfolded. A&E also added on-camera interviews to theBiography format.[6][7][8]
In 1994, A&E expanded the show from one night per week to five (every weeknight at 8pm) and commissioned over 100 hours of new programming. JournalistJack Perkins joined the show as an alternate host along with Graves. For the 1995–96 season, A&E expandedBiography again, adding a sixth night,Biography This Week, which profiled someone from the previous weeks' news, such asYitzak Rabin,George Burns, andGene Kelly.[3][7][8]
| Biography (media franchise) | |
|---|---|
| Created by | David L. Wolper |
| Original work | TV series |
| Owner | A&E Networks |
| Print publications | |
| Book(s) | Crown Publishing Group/Random House-published line |
| Magazine(s) | Biography magazine |
| Films and television | |
| Television series |
|
| Television film(s) |
|
| Games | |
| Traditional | "Who Am I? The Biography Game" (board game) |
| Audio | |
| Original music | EMI-Capitol Entertainment Properties-published line |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Cable channels |
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In the mid-1990s, A&E expandedBiography into amedia franchise, including multiple cable channels, a website, a monthly magazine, home videos, books for adults and children, audiobooks, music CDs, CD-ROMs, several spin-off shows, mini-series, and made-for-TV movies, and even a board game called "Who Am I? The Biography Game."[6][7]
In January 1995, A&E launchedThe History Channel, followed in November byThe History Channel U.K., which included a British version ofBiography with a British host. By 1996, its tenth year on A&E,Biography had achieved its highest ratings yet, drawing over 1.5 million viewers,[9] six nights per week, and received its firstEmmy nominations (The Presidents Award and Outstanding Informational Series).[10] A&E started producing approximately 130 hours of new programming each year, and expanded the franchise into other media.Barnes & Noble began sellingBiography videos in its 400 stores. In the summer of 1996, A&E launched Biography.com. In the fall, a Saturday-morning children's version,Biography for Kids, was released.[6][8][11][12]
The next year,Biography won its firstEmmy Award (Outstanding Informational Series), and was nominated in two other categories.[10] The same year,Biography was allowed to interview sitting First LadyHillary Clinton for an episode profiling billionaireWal-Mart founderSam Walton. Also in 1997, A&E releasedBiography audio tapes, and replaced its eight-year-oldA&E Monthly magazine withBiography magazine. Circulation started at 100,000 in 1997 and grew for several years (to 270,000 by early 1998;[13] 367,000 by mid-1998; 528,000 by 1999; and, 700,000 by 2001).Crown Publishing Group, a subsidiary ofRandom House, began publishing a line of 200-pageBiography paperbacks in 1997, beginning with books onMuhammad Ali,Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,Ronald Reagan, andPope John Paul II.[14][8][15]
In 1998,Biography was airing twice a day, six days a week. The episode profilingOzzie andHarriet Nelson, aired on three separate time slots on Sunday, June 21, 1998, became the show's highest-rated episode up to that point. A&E releasedBiography Movies, featuring subjects such asP.T. Barnum,Lillian Hellman, andDashiell Hammett.Bill Kurtis hosted a spin-off show,Biography: American Justice, and a series ofBiography record albums by artists who had been profiled on the show, includingDean Martin,Judy Garland,Nat King Cole,Mel Torme, andLena Horne, was released byEMI-Capitol Entertainment Properties.[13] In November, A&E created a spin-off network calledThe Biography Channel (nowBio Channel/FYI) featuring historical figures and current political and social leaders.[6][8][12][16]
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By 1999,Biography had profiled 600 people. It won its secondEmmy Award (Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming)[10] and was on television in some incarnation seven nights per week, including an "international-figure-personality-of-the-week,"Biography International. That year's episode profilingRon Howard was viewed in 3.5 million homes, becoming a newBiography record.[17] JournalistHarry Smith (previously with CBS'sThis Morning) joinedBiography as the primary host, thoughPeter Graves and Jack Perkins continued to appear on the show.[6][18]
By the end of the century,Biography had profiled over 800 people, and on October 1, 2000, A&E Networks expanded its British partnership withSky UK with the launch of a UK market Biography Channel.[19]
Biography's ratings declined 15% from 2000 to 2001, and another 17% from 2001 to 2002, before increasing 6% in 2003. Despite the decrease in ratings, by 2002,Biography won its thirdEmmy Award (Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series), and marked its 1,000th profile.[7][10][20]
A&E responded to the ratings decline by changingBiography's management personnel and launching a marketing campaign centering on photographs taken by photographerAnnie Leibovitz of well-known subjects that had been profiled onBiography, includingJerry Seinfeld, Muhammad Ali,Steven Spielberg andHarrison Ford.[20][21]
"We produced a show onthe Green River Valley killer in a week," O'Hearn says. WhenKatharine Hepburn,John Ritter andGregory Peck died, up-to-date shows about their lives were televised if not on the night they passed away, the following night.
— Variety, quotingBiography Vice President Didi O'Hearn, 2002[20]
In 2002, host Harry Smith left to join CBS'sThe Early Show. A&E began reducing the number of nightsBiography aired starting 2003, whenNeil Ross became the show's final host, narrating episodes onElizabeth Taylor andElvis Presley.[3][22][23] The growth ofBiography's magazine circulation slowed in 2002 and declined 9% in 2003. In 2004, A&E scaled backBiography magazine from monthly to quarterly publication.[3][24]
By 2006, Ross had left the show andBiography was airing only once a week, usually on Friday nights with three back-to-back episodes. A&E removedBiography from its lineup in August, making new episodes of the show exclusively available onThe Biography Channel. Its first year on The Biography Channel featured 64 hours of new programming, including episodes on theOnassis family,Jamie Oliver,Russell Simmons,George Lopez,Anthony Hopkins,Grace Slick,Elmore Leonard andOlivia Newton-John. The following year, The Biography Channel was rebranded "Bio." In 2008,Biography released a documentary,Johnny Cash's America, together with a companion DVD/CD package published byLegacy Recordings containing an unreleased recitation by the singer entitled "I Am the Nation."[3][25][26]
The last new episode aired in 2011, and the show ended its run in 2012. In 2014, A&E replaced its underperforming Bio channel withThe FYI Network and partnered with digital publisherSAY Media. SAY Media began operating Biography.com, while A&E continued producing short-form videos for the website.[27]
In 2017, A&E Networks relaunched the franchise with a set of two-hour specials and mini-series for three of its channels,A&E,History andLifetime. Biography returned to A&E on June 28, 2017, withThe Notorious Life of Biggie Smalls. A&E announced that it would produce up to 40 hours of new episodes as part of the relaunch, including features onJohn Gotti,Tupac Shakur,Vladimir Putin,Elizabeth Smart,Mike Tyson, andDavid Koresh.[11][27]
In 1996,Biography launched a website called Biography.com with over 3,000 biographies of well-known people, based inEaston, Pennsylvania. Since 2023, Biography.com has been part ofHearst Magazines.Bill Strickland is the currenteditorial director, and Andrew Daniels is thenews director.[28]
 |  |  |
| 1961–1963: Mike Wallace | 1979: David Janssen | 1987–1999: Peter Graves |
 |  | |
| 1994–1999: Jack Perkins | 1999–2002: Harry Smith | 2003–2006: Neil Ross |
The original, early 1960s syndicatedBiography was narrated by Mike Wallace, who won his firstPeabody Award on the show, and launched his journalism career. Wallace left in 1963 to joinThe CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace, and later,60 Minutes.[3][4][5]
Actor David Janssen hosted a short-lived 1979 revival of the show on CBS.[3][29]
Actor Peter Graves hostedBiography on A&E starting in 1987, and he was joined in 1994 by journalist Jack Perkins as an alternate host, when the show expanded from one night per week to five.[7][14]
Where else could you find maybe on three successive nights the stories ofRobert E. Lee,Gypsy Rose Lee andBruce Lee?
— Host Harry Smith, as quoted byThe Hartford Courant, 2002[7]
In 1999, after reportedly trying without success to recruitCharlie Gibson (who was then leaving ABC'sGood Morning America) to replace Graves and Perkins, A&E named journalist Harry Smith, previously with CBS'sThis Morning, as the primary host ofBiography, although Graves and Perkins continued to have a role with the series.[6][18]
Smith left in 2002 to join CBS'sThe Early Show, and was replaced byNeil Ross. Ross left in 2006, and A&E producedBiography as an unhosted show.[11]
Biography has profiled over 1,000 subjects, ranging from "Moses toMozart toMadonna," in the words of host Harry Smith,[7] and as of 2018, Biography.com claims to contain over 7,000 biographical profiles on its website.[30] The most-watched episodes profiledRon Howard, theGambino crime family,Ozzie andHarriet Nelson,Andre the Giant, andSam Walton.[6][17][29]
Since its first broadcast in 1962,Biography has profiled:
Biography has been described as "an undisputed phenom,"[11] "one of cable television's most respected programs,"[8] "one of the most popular series on cable TV,"[3] "the belle of the Nielsen ball,"[26] and "the most pervasive series of history films found in classroom libraries."[5] It has been called A&E's "flagship series",[6][8] "signature series,"[29][6][18] "strongest brand,"[8] and "most-watched show."[18] In 2002, a writer forThe Hartford Courant asked, "Is there anybody who doesn't like, or at the very least hasn't stopped to watch, A&E'sBiography?"[7]
Biography has won a Peabody Award and threeAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences Awards (Emmy) Awards: Outstanding Informational Series in 1997, Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming in 1999, and Outstanding Informational Series in 2002. The show has been nominated for 16 other Emmy Awards: The Presidents Award (1996–1997), Outstanding Informational Series (1996), Outstanding Individual Achievement Informational Programming (1997), Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series (1998–2000, 2003–09, 2011), Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming (1999), and Outstanding Informational Series (2001).[10][35][36]
Not all reviews have been positive. The sameHartford Courant writer criticized the early 1960s version of the show for focusing on "great men".[7] A writer forThe New York Times describedBiography as "skipping easily, and often superficially" from one subject to the next.[29]Variety has reviewed some episodes as "disappointingly routine...marred by errors and omissions,"[33] and "suffer[ing] tunnel vision."[37] An episode onFidel Castro was criticized as having "a distinct anti-Castro edge by Mike Wallace."[5] TheDwight Eisenhower Presidential Library includes a copy of a 1962Biography episode featuring Eisenhower with the notation, "There are some simplifications of facts and condensation of events."[38] A 2018Salt Lake Tribune TV critic wrote "the producers ofWarren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil should have been more careful" to avoid confusing theLDS Church with theFLDS Church "through careless editing."[39]
BIOGRAPHY: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER 1962...39th edition of CBS biography series. Follows Eisenhower from birth to 1962. There are some simplifications of facts and condensation of events. Does contain unique WWII film footage. Narrated by Mike Wallace.
— Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Archives entry for 1962Biography episode[38]
In 2002, theAmerican Library Association wrote that Biography.com is an "extensive site" and "the perfect source for anyone looking for background or historical and biographical information."[40] In 2009, Biography.com was named a "Ten Best Reference Website" byThe Sunday Times.[41] Biography.com has been cited as a source byThe New York Times,[42]The Washington Post,[43] TheLos Angeles Times,[44] TheChicago Tribune,[45]The Columbus Dispatch,[46]The Boston Globe,[47] andNPR.[48]
Biography has been a category on the television game showJeopardy!.[6] In 2000, the NBC sitcomJust Shoot Me! did an episode called "A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn". The episode was shot in the style of A&E'sBiography, and focused on the life of one of the show's main characters, Nina Van Horn. The episode featured interviews with the other characters of the show and multiple special guest stars, includingDon Henley,Jerry Hall,Sydney Pollack,Pat Sajak,Vanna White, andBuddy Hackett. The episode also included an introduction, conclusion, and voiceover provided by then-host Harry Smith.[49]
signature series
most-watched show