1999
PBS to Broadcast Joseph Smith Documentary
November 1999


“PBS to Broadcast Joseph Smith Documentary,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 112

PBS to Broadcast Joseph Smith Documentary

A new, two-hour documentary titled American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith will premiere on PBS television stations in the United States on Friday, 26 November, at 9:00 P.M. Eastern standard time (check local listings). The documentary, not Church-sponsored, was produced by Vermont Public Television and the team that made Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail. Narrated by actor Gregory Peck, it features firsthand accounts from 19th-century journals, letters, and newspapers; period photographs, sketches, and artwork; stylized re-creations of selected events from the Prophet Joseph Smith’s story; and observations by President Gordon B. Hinckley, other Church leaders, and numerous historians and scholars. The documentary was filmed in England and in Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Vermont. The project was produced and directed by Lee Groberg and made possible by a grant from the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.