Gabriel Awards at 1645 Brook Lynn Dr., Suite 2, Dayton, OH 45432-1944 US - Ken Burns 2010 Gabriel Personal Achievement Recipient
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Ken Burns 2010 Gabriel Personal Achievement Recipient
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The son of a cultural anthropologist, Mr. Burns inherited his father’s interest in culture, society and photography to become, who many believe to be, the greatest documentary producer of all time. Catholic Academy President Frank Morock noted, “If someone who knew nothing of the United States, its people, its history, wanted to learn about our core, what makes us who we are, all they would have to do is take time to watch Ken Burns’ documentaries. He has captured the spirit and the essence of America and Americans.”
Each of Burns’ documentaries vividly portrays a captivating period of Americana. His 2007 film, The War, which he co-directed and produced, is a seven-part series that tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of nearly 40 men and women, exploring the human dimensions of the war. His 1990 multi-part series titled The Civil War attracted an audience of 40 million during its premiere, making it the highest rated series in American public television up to that time. The series dropped to second place with his release of Baseball, an 18 ½ hour documentary that covered the history of baseball from the 1840s to the present. He followed that with a 19-hour 10-part series titled Jazz, exploring the culture, politics and dreams that gave birth to jazz music and follows its procession to modern day. In both Baseball and Jazz, Burns served as director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer.
Ken Burns’ documentaries cover a range of societal issues. His Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005), is the story of the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion. Among its honors were three Primetime Emmy Awards. Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999) won a Peabody and an Emmy Award. The dual biography told the story of two women who were instrumental in the women’s rights movement. Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery was released to critical acclaim. The four-hour film, co-produced with Dayton Duncan, chronicles the corps' journey westward on the first official expedition into uncharted spaces in United States history.
Mr. Burns most recent broadcast documentary is The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, which he co-produced with Duncan. The six-part series, filmed over the course of six years, is nonetheless a story of people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.
Not one to rest, Ken Burns is currently involved in six other projects. They include The Tenth Inning, an update to Ken’s 1994 epic Baseball, scheduled to be shown on PBS in 2010, as well as a three-part, six-hour history of Prohibition, tentatively set for PBS broadcast in 2011. Future projects already in the works include films on the Dust Bowl, the Roosevelts, the Vietnam War and the Central Park Jogger case.
In reviewing the list of the previous Gabriel Personal Achievement winners, it is easy to understand the reason for this year’s award being presented to Mr. Ken Burns. His body of work epitomizes what the Gabriel Awards represent. In the words of one Catholic Academy Board member, “Ken Burns is to documentary filmmaking, what Abraham Lincoln is to presidents: simply the best.” The Catholic Academy Board agrees in its selection of Mr. Ken Burns as the 2010 Gabriel Personal Achievement Award honoree.
The Personal Achievement Award is sponsored annually by Family Theater Productions, in memory of Father Patrick Peyton, CSC.
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