Biography Season 7, Episode 18: Vincent Van Gogh: A Stroke of Genius

David Berkowitz: Son of Sam

For over a year, he held a city hostage to fear. When he was finally caught, the nation was shocked to discover that the "face of terror" was a cherubic postal worker who smiled sweetly for the camera. David Berkowitz claimed the lives of six people in a killing spree that resulted in the largest manhunt in the history of New York. Once apprehended, he confessed to all the crimes and asked the judge to put him away forever so he would not kill again. In this comprehensive portrait, reporters and detectives who worked on the case, the parents of victims, a prosecutor and a former FBI profiler relive the case that galvanized a nation. Psychologists explore the many frustrations and disappointments that led Berkowitz to kill, and in a gripping interview, Berkowitz himself talks about his crimes and jailhouse transformation into the "Son of Hope." Today, he ministers to other prisoners and born-again Christians all over the world in hopes of restoring some meaning to his shattered life. From the dark streets of a shaken city to the jailhouse reformation, BIOGRAPHY examines the "Son of Sam."

60 min

Mao Tse Tung: China's Peasant Emperor

“For 25 years Mao Zedong ruled one quarter of the world’s population. This is the extraordinary story of a farmer’s son who became a God in his life time but in private never shook off his peasant roots; a man who presided over one of the most radical experiments in social reform ever seen in human history but who will be remembered as one of the bloodiest dictators of the twentieth century. This program–told through the accounts of those who have met and studied him, loved and loathed him–includes archive film and pictures going back to the very earliest days of Mao’s life, as well as unique film of China at the turn of the century and during key episodes in Mao’s communist revolution. It includes harrowing and eye-witness accounts of such momentous events as the cultural revolution, the Great Leap Forward and the most severe man-made famine ever recorded.”

60 min

Amelia Earhart: Queen of the Air

60 min

Angela Lansbury: A Balancing Act

60 min

Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl

60 min

Beethoven: The Sound and the Fury

60 min

Colonel Sanders: America's Chicken King

60 min

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Commander-in-Chief

60 min

Ernest Hemingway: Wrestling With Life

60 min

Evel Knievel: Hell on Wheels

60 min

Howard Carter: Triumph and Treasure

60 min

Jackie Kennedy Onassis: In a Class of Her Own

60 min

Jim Jones: Journey into Madness

60 min

John Wayne: American Legend

60 min

P.T. Barnum: The Greatest Showman on Earth

60 min

Ray Kroc: Fast Food McMillionaire

60 min

Satan: Prince of Darkness

Examining the story of Satan's fall from grace and his efforts against the human race.

60 min

Charles Lindbergh: Against the Wind

60 min

Fred Gwynne: More than a Munster

60 min

John Wayne Gacy: A Monster in Disguise

60 min

Nicolae Ceausescu: The Unrepentant Tyrant

60 min

The Tiffanys: Mark of Excellence

60 min

Dean Martin: Everybody Loves Somebody

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Their incredible exploits earned them a place in American legend. Their true fate remains one of the great mysteries of the Old west.

46 min

Nostradamus: Prophet of Doom

Explore the incredible life of Nostradamus, the enigmatic man known as the Prophet of Doom.

47 min