Citizen Hearst, a two-part, four-hour installment of PBS’ American Experience, details media magnate William Randolph Hearst’s rise and how he became the model for the lead character in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.
The film premieres Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 27 and 28 at 9 p.m. on PBS stations.
It is based on historian David Nasaw’s critically acclaimed biography, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst.
In the 1930s, Hearst’s media empire included 28 newspapers, a movie studio, a syndicated wire service, radio stations and 13 magazines.
Nearly one in four American families read a Hearst publication. His newspapers were so influential that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Winston Churchill all wrote for him.
The first practitioner of what is now known as “synergy,” Hearst used his media stronghold to achieve unprecedented political power, then ran for office himself. After serving two terms in Congress, he came in second in the balloting for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1904.
Perhaps best known as the inspiration for Welles’ Charles Foster Kane and his lavish castle in San Simeon, Hearst died in 1951 at the age of 88, having transformed the media’s role in American life and politics.
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