''Mark Twain'' is a documentary film on the life of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

, also known as Samuel Clemens, produced by

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...

in 2001 which aired on Public Broadcasting System on January 14 and 15, 2002. Burns attempted to capture both the public and private persona of Mark Twain from his birth to his death. The film was narrated by

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...

Voice actors and subject interviews

The voice of Mark Twain was provided by Kevin Conway and the voice of Olivia Langdon Clemens was portrayed by

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Best Supporting Actress in a Dra ...

. Other voice work was provided by actors

Philip Bosco Philip Michael Bosco (September 26, 1930 – December 3, 2018) was an American actor. He was known for his Tony Award-winning performance as Saunders in the 1989 Broadway production of '' Lend Me a Tenor'', and for his starring role in the 2007 f ...

Carolyn McCormick Carolyn McCormick is an American actress who played Dr. Elizabeth Olivet in the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Life and career McCormick has worked in television, movies, theatre, and voice acting. Her breakthrough role was in '' Enemy Mine'', ...

Amy Madigan Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film ''Twice in a Lifetime (film), Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include ''Love ...

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supportin ...

, and Tim Clark. The film also includes interviews with playwright

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

, novelist and Twain biographer

Ron Powers Ron Powers (born November 18, 1941) is an American journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer. His works include ''No One Cares About Crazy People: My Family and the Heartbreak of Mental Illness in America''; ''White Town Drowsing: Journeys to ...

, writer

William Styron William Clark Styron Jr. (June 11, 1925 – November 1, 2006) was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work. Early life Styron was born in the Hilton Village historic district of Newport News, Virginia, the so ...

, poet

Russell Banks Russell Earl Banks (March 28, 1940 – January 8, 2023) was an American writer of fiction and poetry. His novels are known for "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". He drew from ...

, historian John Boyer (executive director of the

Mark Twain House The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. The Clemens family had it designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in the American High Got ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

professor Jocelyn Chadwick,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

English literature professor Shelley Fisher Fishkin, comedian and civil rights activist

Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic. His books were bestsellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern U ...

, actor

Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...

, animator and actor

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

, and Mark Twain scholar Laura Skandera Trombley.

Critical assessment

Mark Twain Legacy Scholar Barbara Schmidt asserts on her website twainquotes.com that some

artistic license Artistic license (and more general or contextually-specific, derivative terms such as creative license, poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It ...

was taken, resulting in some historical inaccuracies and misrepresentations. She also notes, that some of these errors are the result of the Twain scholarship at time the documentary was made, and that more recent scholarship has revealed some of the factual errors that are in the documentary. Schmidt's website twainquotes.com is widely cited in academic publications on Twain and is highly regarded as an authoritative resource within Twain research. Film critic

Caryn James Caryn James is an American film critic, journalist, university lecturer, and writer. Biography She grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and obtained her doctorate in English literature at Brown University. She began working as a freelance jour ...

wrote the following in her review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'':

"No writer was ever more sardonic about American culture than Twain, and no filmmaker is more earnest than Ken Burns. In ''Mark Twain'' that makes for a maddening collision between Twain's ironic sensibility and Mr. Burns's familiar, sentimental style. Twain is forced into the Burns cookie cutter here, complete with the unironic sound of '' Sweet Betsy from Pike'', fiddled relentlessly in the background."

References

External links

Official site on PBS
* {{Mark Twain 2001 films Films directed by Ken Burns 2000s American documentary television series American documentary films Works about Mark Twain 2000s American films

Voice actors and subject interviews

Critical assessment

See also

References

External links