AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: CITIZEN HEARST to Premiere on PBS

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents Citizen Hearst, an insightful biography of one of the most fascinating and powerful men of the 20th century. By the 1930s, William Randolph Hearst controlled the largest media empire in the country: 28 newspapers, a movie studio, a syndicated wire service, radio stations, and 13 magazines. He used his communications stronghold to achieve political power unprecedented in the industry, then ran for office himself. A man of prodigious appetites and the model for Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, his castle, San Simeon, was a monument to his extravagance.

While married to his wife Millicent, with whom he had five sons, he also conducted a decades-long affair with actress Marion Davies, his companion until death. By the time Hearst died in 1951 at the age of 88, he had forever transformed the role of media in American life and politics. Based on The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst, David Nasaw's critically acclaimed biography, "Citizen Hearst" premieres Monday and Tuesday, September 27 & 28, 2021, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.

"In today's polarized media landscape, the explosion of false narratives seems to undermine the very concept of what qualifies as news," said Cameo George, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE executive producer. "This incisive examination of William Randolph Hearst, and the unprecedented power he wielded through his media empire, couldn't be more timely."

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE "Citizen Hearst" is directed by Amanda Pollak and Stephen Ives, written by Gene Tempest and Stephen Ives, and produced by Amanda Pollak and Gene Tempest. Cameo George is the executive producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.