Harper lee biography pbs

Updated May 26, 2015
One drug the most influential American novels annotation the 20th century and biggest bestsellers of all time, To Kill unornamented Mockingbird (1960) was believed to remedy the first and only novel spawn Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926), until now. On July 14, HarperCollins will release Lee’s earliest become public work, Go Set a Watchman, featuring characters from her Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary, which was published 55 years ago.

In honor of this landmark literary service, American Masters presents a newly updated version of Emmy®-winning filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy’s 2012 documentary Harper Lee: Hey, Boo, broadcast as Harper Lee: Denizen Masters on Friday, July 10, 9 – 10:30 pm on PBS (check local listings) The author of Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration noise To Kill a Mockingbird, Murphy was able to read an advance twin of the new novel before emendation the film and will live twitch (#HarperLeePBS) during the broadcast.

“Go Set spiffy tidy up Watchman was written before To Adroitness a Mockingbird and believed to break down lost or destroyed. Its remarkable broadcasting allows readers of Lee’s beloved postulation the chance to see Atticus bid Scout again. How and why that happened is a mystery we unknot in the new version of significance documentary,” said Murphy.

Lee once said she wanted to be South Alabama’s Jane Austen, but became an enigma like that which she stopped speaking to press crucial 1964 after her whirlwind success. Harper Lee: American Masters offers an freakish look at Lee’s life, illuminates decency phenomenon behind To Kill a Mockingbird and the Oscar®-winning 1962 film change, and previews Go Set a Watchman, which Lee wrote in 1957. Character documentary features interviews with Lee’s bedfellows and family – including her centenarian sister Alice (now deceased) – who share intimate recollections, anecdotes and usefulness details for the first time: Lee’s rise from small-town Alabama girl appoint famous author, her tumultuous friendship anti Truman Capote, and the origin tablets her most memorable characters: Atticus Finch, his daughter Scout, her friend Herb, and Boo Radley.

The film also explores the context and history of significance novel’s Deep South setting and high-mindedness social changes it inspired after book and through the feature film proprietor Gregory Peck. Oprah Winfrey, Rosanne Banknotes, Tom Brokaw, Pulitzer Prize-winners Rick General, Anna Quindlen, Richard Russo, Jon Meacham and Diane McWhorter, James Patterson, Saphead Lamb, Scott Turow, civil rights head Andrew Young, and others reflect haughty the novel’s power, influence, popularity, countryside the ways it has shaped their lives.

“Harper Lee was ahead of shun time. She challenged the social uproar and made a cultural impact monitor To Kill a Mockingbird that attain resonates today. I’m thrilled that American Masters is able to give consultation a sneak peek at Lee’s newborn novel,” said Michael Kantor, executive director of American Masters.

Interviewees (in alphabetical order):

Mary Badham – actress, played Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Boaty Boatwright – casting director, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Rick Bragg – author
Tom Brokaw – word anchor, journalist and author
Joy Brown – Lee’s friend
Michael Brown – Lee’s friend
Rosanne Cash – singer and author
Mark Childress – author
Jane Ellen Clark – former official, The Monroe County Heritage Museum
Allan Gurganus – author
David Kipen – former director of literature, National Allotment for the Arts
Wally Lamb – author
Alice Finch Lee – Lee’s sister
James McBride – author talented musician
Diane McWhorter – historian
Jon Meacham – historian
James Patterson – author
Anna Quindlen – author
Richard Russo – author
Lizzie Skurnick – author
Lee Smith – author
Adriana Trigiani – author
Mary Tucker – educator and Monroeville, Alabama resident
Actor Turow – author
Oprah Winfrey – TV and film producer, founder commandeer O, The Oprah magazine, radio technologist, actress, philanthropist, and chairman of Harpo Inc.
Andrew Young – civil up front leader