Biography is an American documentary television series and media franchise created in the 1960s by David L. Wolper and owned by A&E Networks since 1987.

It won a Peabody Award, launched Wallace's journalism career, and became a standard in biography films, widely shown in classrooms.

The original Biography was produced by David Wolper and Jack Haley Jr. and narrated by Mike Wallace, who at the time was just beginning his award-winning journalism career.

[3] The 1960s series profiled world leaders (Winston Churchill), contemporary U.S. politicians (Fiorello H. La Guardia, Joseph McCarthy), athletes (Babe Ruth and Knute Rockne), and other 20th-century notables, including generals, authors, scientists, actors, and all the modern U.S.

[3] The Arts & Entertainment Network (now A&E), a joint venture started in 1984 by ABC, NBC, the Hearst Corporation, and the Rockefeller Group, acquired the broadcast rights to Biography and began airing the show on Tuesday nights at 8pm beginning on April 6, 1987, with Peter Graves as host.

[3][7][8] In the mid-1990s, A&E expanded Biography into a media franchise, including multiple cable channels, a website, a monthly magazine, home videos, books for adults and children, audiobooks, music CDs, CD-ROMs, several spin-off shows, mini-series, and made-for-TV movies, and even a board game called "Who Am I?

By 1996, its tenth year on A&E, Biography had achieved its highest ratings yet, drawing over 1.5 million viewers,[9] six nights per week, and received its first Emmy nominations (The Presidents Award and Outstanding Informational Series).

[10] The same year, Biography was allowed to interview sitting First Lady Hillary Clinton for an episode profiling billionaire Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

Bill Kurtis hosted a spin-off show, Biography: American Justice, and a series of Biography record albums by artists who had been profiled on the show, including Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, and Lena Horne, was released by EMI-Capitol Entertainment Properties.

[13] In November, A&E created a spin-off network called The Biography Channel (now Bio Channel/FYI) featuring historical figures and current political and social leaders.

It won its second Emmy Award (Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming)[10] and was on television in some incarnation seven nights per week, including an "international-figure-personality-of-the-week," Biography International.

[17] Journalist Harry Smith (previously with CBS's This Morning) joined Biography as the primary host, though Peter Graves and Jack Perkins continued to appear on the show.

Despite the decrease in ratings, by 2002, Biography won its third Emmy Award (Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series), and marked its 1,000th profile.

A&E began reducing the number of nights Biography aired starting 2003, when Neil Ross became the show's final host, narrating episodes on Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley.

Its first year on The Biography Channel featured 64 hours of new programming, including episodes on the Onassis family, Jamie Oliver, Russell Simmons, George Lopez, Anthony Hopkins, Grace Slick, Elmore Leonard and Olivia Newton-John.

In 2008, Biography released a documentary, Johnny Cash's America, together with a companion DVD/CD package published by Legacy Recordings containing an unreleased recitation by the singer entitled "I Am the Nation.

A&E announced that it would produce up to 40 hours of new episodes as part of the relaunch, including features on John Gotti, Tupac Shakur, Vladimir Putin, Elizabeth Smart, Mike Tyson, and David Koresh.

[11][27] The original, early 1960s syndicated Biography was narrated by Mike Wallace, who won his first Peabody Award on the show, and launched his journalism career.

[29] The most-watched episodes profiled Ron Howard, the Gambino crime family, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Andre the Giant, and Sam Walton.

Narrated by Mike Wallace.In 2002, the American Library Association wrote that Biography.com is an "extensive site" and "the perfect source for anyone looking for background or historical and biographical information.

The episode featured interviews with the other characters of the show and multiple special guest stars, including Don Henley, Jerry Hall, Sydney Pollack, Pat Sajak, Vanna White, and Buddy Hackett.