Ric Burns

Ric Burns (born 1955) is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War (1990), which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey C. Ward.

Biography

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Burns moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan at an early age, and attended Columbia University and Cambridge University, breaking from his graduate work to join his brother on the production of the Civil War series. Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed several programs for WGBH Boston's American Experience, including Coney Island (1991). He also wrote and directed The Donner Party (1992).

In 1995, Burns wrote, directed, and co-produced The Way West. In April 2002, Burns completed Ansel Adams, a co-production of Steeplechase Films and Sierra Club Productions for American Experience.

New York: A Documentary Film

Burns is probably best known for his series New York: A Documentary Film, which premiered nationally on PBS. The eight-part, seventeen-and-a-half-hour film chronicles the city’s rise from a tiny Dutch trading post through its continuing preeminence as an economic and cultural capital of the world.

The first five episodes of New York were broadcast in November 1999; the sixth and seventh episodes in the fall of 2001; and the eighth episode in September 2003. In 2018, the ninth episode will premiere, chronicling New York since the events of September 11, 2001.

More recent films

Burns’s more recently completed projects include We Shall Remain (2009), which tells the story of the life and hardships of Native Americans in the United States. Another, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (2010) is the story of U.S. whaling industry and its eventual collapse following World War I.

Selected filmography

• Coney Island (1991)
• The Donner Party (1992) on the Donner Party
• The Way West (1995)
• New York: A Documentary Film (1999; expanded 2003)
• Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film (2002)
• Columbia: A Celebration (2003)
• Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film (2006)
• Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2006)
• We Shall Remain (2009), on Native Americans
• Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World (2010)
• Nantucket (2011)
• Death and the Civil War (2012)
• Enquiring Minds: The Untold Story of the Man Behind the National Enquirer (2014)
• American Ballet Theatre: A History (2015)
• Debt of Honor: Disabled Veterans in American History (2015)
• The Pilgrims (2015)

Selected list of awards and nominations

• 31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2010) - Outstanding Nonfiction Series (nominated) for Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World
• 27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming (won) for Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film
• 27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Nonfiction Series (nominated) for Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film under the American Masters series.
• 27th News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2006) - Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing (won) for Eugene O'Neill
• Peabody Award (2006) - (won) for Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film

• "Nominees for the 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards". Retrieved 9 March 2011.
• ^ "Nominees for the 27th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards". Retrieved 9 March 2011.
• "GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD WINNERS" Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 9 March 2011.