How do today’s masters create their art? American Masters: Creative Spark presents narrative interviews that go in-depth with an iconic artist about the creation of a single work. Each episode offers a unique window into the world of art and the creative process of artists and cultural icons across a wide range of disciplines, from music and comedy to poetry and film.
Listen to singer-songwriters Joan Baez and Dar Williams perform as a duet in this impromptu rendition of “If I Wrote You”, written by Dar Williams. This exclusive performance is from the cutting room floor of award-winning filmmaker Mary Wharton’s Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound (2009).
Before jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald became the First Lady of Song and earned 13 Grammy Awards, she spent much of her teenage years as an orphan, finding odd jobs to get by and, at times, living on the street.
Celebrate television legend Lucille Ball with actresses Doris Singleton, Fran Drescher, and Carol Burnett, who discuss Lucy’s successes and challenges.
American singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne discusses the difficulties of navigating the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood studio system and her involvement in the civil rights movement. As a trailblazing person of color within the entertainment industry, Horne recollects times spent with Count Basie, Medgar Evers, Billy Strayhorn and others [Lena Horne: In Her Own Voice (1996)].
In this episode of the American Masters Podcast, American journalist and activist Gloria Steinem speaks with the late documentary filmmaker Gail Levin as they take a critical look at the life and career of Marilyn Monroe [Marilyn Monroe: Still Life (2006)].