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THIRTEEN’s American Masters Concludes

30th Anniversary Season with Eero Saarinen:

The Architect Who Saw the Future, Premiering

Nationwide Tuesday, December 27 on PBS

Director of photography Eric Saarinen, ASC, takes a cathartic journey to his

father’s landmark modernist works, including St. Louis’ Gateway Arch

Peter Franzén and Blythe Danner are the voices of Eero and Aline Saarinen

American Masters — Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future explores

the life and visionary work of Finnish-American modernist architectural giant Eero Saarinen

(1910-1961) in the series’ Season 30 finale, premiering nationwide Tuesday, December 27 at

8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and available on DVD January 3, 2017 from PBS

Distribution. Best known for designing National Historic Landmarks such as St. Louis’ iconic

Gateway Arch and the General Motors Technical Center (Warren, Mich.), Saarinen also

designed New York’s TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Yale

University’s Ingalls Rink and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, Virginia’s Dulles Airport, and

modernist pedestal furniture like the Tulip chair. His sudden death at age 51 cut short one of

the most influential careers in American architecture.

Saarinen’s son, director of photography and co-producer Eric Saarinen, ASC (Lost in

America, The Hills Have Eyes, Exploratorium), visits the sites of his father’s work on a

cathartic journey, shot in 6K with the latest in drone technology that showcases the architect’s

body of timeless work for the first time. The documentary also features rare archival interviews

with Eero and his second wife, The New York Times art critic Aline Saarinen, as well as letters

and quotations from Aline’s memoirs voiced respectively by Peter Franzén and Blythe Danner.

“Closure was something I didn’t have with my dad. But I forgive him for his genius,” said

Eric Saarinen, ASC. “He figured out a way to be important across time, so even though he died

young, he is still alive.”

The son of prominent Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and textile designer Loja

Saarinen, Eero was surrounded by design his whole life, as was his son Eric, whose mother Lily

Saarinen was a sculptor, artist and educator. Immigrating at the age of 13 to Bloomfield Hills,

Mich., Eero attended Cranbrook Academy of Art, designed by Eliel, who taught there and

became the school’s first president as well as the chief architect of the Cranbrook campus, with

Eero designing details like gargoyles and chairs. Eric also grew up at Cranbrook with his

parents, grandparents, their friends and collaborators, including his godparents, designers

Charles and Ray Eames.

“This film is both an immersive look at an architect’s work and a father-son story across

generations. Once Eric agreed to go on this journey with me, I knew the results would be

compelling and revealing,” said Emmy-, Peabody- and DGA Award-winning filmmaker Peter

Rosen (American Masters — Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler, American Masters — Garrison

Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes, American Masters: Rubinstein Remembered).

In American Masters — Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future,

Eric also tours North Christian Church and the Miller House (both National Historic

Landmarks in Columbus, Ind.), Deere & Company World Headquarters (Moline, Ill.) and MIT’s

Kresge Auditorium (Cambridge, Mass.). The documentary features new interviews with

architects Kevin Roche, César Pelli, Rafael Viñoly, and Robert A. M. Stern, and industrial

designer Niels Diffrient, who all worked with or were influenced by Saarinen. Architecture critic

Paul Goldberger, curator Donald Albrecht (Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future), author Jayne

Merkel (Eero Saarinen) and Cathleen McGuigan, editor-in-chief of Architectural Record, also

provide perspectives on why Saarinen’s work stands apart and continues to inspire, especially

amongst renewed interest in 20th-century architects and artists.

Launched in 1986, American Masters has earned 28 Emmy Awards — including 10

for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special — 12

Peabodys, an Oscar, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards and many other honors. To

further explore the lives and works of masters past and present, the American Masters

website (http://pbs.org/americanmasters) offers streaming video of select films, outtakes,

filmmaker interviews, educational resources and In Their Own Words: The American Masters

Digital Archive: previously unreleased interviews of luminaries discussing America’s most

enduring artistic and cultural giants as well as the American Masters Podcast. The series is a

production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET and also seen on the WORLD

channel.

American Masters — Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future is a

co-production of Peter Rosen Productions, Inc., THIRTEEN’s American Masters for WNET,

and Detroit Public Television in association with YLE. Peter Rosen is producer and director.

Eric Saarinen, ASC, is director of photography and co-producer. Blythe Danner is the voice of

Aline Saarinen. Peter Franzén is the voice of Eero Saarinen. Kris Liem and Adam Zucker are

editors with music by Moby. Sandra Vaughan is co-producer and Robert L. Ziegelman, FAIA, is

associate producer and consultant. Michael Kantor is executive producer for American

Masters.

Major funding for American Masters — Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who

Saw the Future is provided by the A. Alfred Taubman Foundation. Additional funding is

provided in part by American Institute of Architects, National Endowment for the Arts, The

Durst Family, Vital Projects Fund, Eric and Katherine Larson Family Fund, MCR Development

LLC, Gerald D. Hines, Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, KieranTimberlake, KPF Foundation, and

Daryl and Steven Roth Foundation.

Major support for American Masters is provided by AARP. Additional funding is

provided by Rosalind P. Walter, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Judith and Burton

Resnick, Ellen and James S. Marcus, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Blanche &

Irving Laurie Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The André and

Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Lenore Hecht Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation,

and public television viewers.

About WNET WNET is America’s flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children’s programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET’s groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state’s unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.

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