American Masters 20

John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend (2006)

John Ford and John Wayne — a friendship and professional collaboration that spanned 50 years, changed each others’ lives, changed the movies, and in the process, changed the way America saw itself. It was a relationship that reflected all the elements and all the paradoxes of 20th century America — generosity of spirit, abuse of power, a sense of loyalty, and a restless nationalism that didn’t quite know what to do with itself.

The World of Nat King Cole (2006)

Archival performances, home movies and interviews illustrate singer Nat King Cole's achievements during a 30-year music and television career.

Woodie Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home (2006)

The life and times of the hard traveling music-man Woody Guthrie.

Marilyn Monroe: Still Life (2006)

Walter Cronkite: Witness to History (2006)

Walter Cronkite was the man who gave us the news for two tumultuous decades in the late 20th century. As historian, journalist and author David Halberstam says in praise of the great CBS newsman: "Most Americans really learned of the evening news and learned of Vietnam and learned of the civil rights movement and learned of Watergate with Walter Cronkite as the man who ushered it into their homes. And did it with great professionalism over a very long time and was I think absolutely true to himself." In AMERICAN MASTERS Walter Cronkite: Witness to History, a documentary narrated by Katie Couric, historians, fellow journalists and CBS colleagues appraise the career of the man who was called "the most trusted man in America." CBS writer and commentator Andy Rooney, legendary producer/director Don Hewitt, correspondents Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl and Barbara Walters, columnists Molly Ivins and Helen Thomas, Senator John McCain and President Jimmy Carter guide the viewer from Cronkite's early days as a foreign correspondent in World War II through his thirty-year career at CBS News.