

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Status
Returning Series
Type
Documentary
Seasons
38
Episodes
399
16 episodes
16 episodes
13 episodes
13 episodes
13 episodes

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

8 episodes
13 episodes
9 episodes
22 episodes
9 episodes
10 episodes
15 episodes
12 episodes
14 episodes
13 episodes
9 episodes
11 episodes
13 episodes
15 episodes
14 episodes
9 episodes
8 episodes
12 episodes
8 episodes
8 episodes
7 episodes
11 episodes
8 episodes
8 episodes
9 episodes
7 episodes
8 episodes
8 episodes
6 episodes
9 episodes
7 episodes
8 episodes
1 episodes

Narrator (voice)
Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.