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- Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for syndication by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The A&E series has featured biographies on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Enrico Caruso, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel. Initially, most of the episodes featured the life stories of historical figures or present political or social leaders. After a few years, however, the show began producing episodes on figures from pop culture. This move away from purely intellectual subject matter has been criticized by some. However, the original Wallace series also featured pop culture figures; in fact, the very first episode discussed the life of baseball icon Babe Ruth. In addition, the series has recently covered figures in the business and technology world, such as Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders of Google. At one point, the show aired up to six times weekly in prime time, but cut back to only once a week, usually on Friday nights. A&E canceled Biography after August 2006, making the show exclusively available on The Biography Channel. However, A&E currently continues airing the series Saturday and Sunday mornings. Usually, the network has focused on people within the popular culture field for its weekend morning broadcasts, but it continues to show Biography episodes covering figures outside of the popular culture field, such as business figures J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, KFC founder Colonel Sanders, and Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, as well as journalist Meredith Vieira.
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