''Benjamin Franklin'' is a 2002 American

documentary television series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

which premiered November 19–20, 2002 and reairs on August 22–September 5, 2005. The series was produced by

Twin Cities Public Television Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (abbreviated TPT, doing business as Twin Cities PBS) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member television stations, KTCA-TV (channe ...

of Minneapolis-St. Paul. ''Benjamin Franklin'' won an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special (Traditional) in 2003. Executive producers Catherine Allan and Jerry Richman accepted the award.

Episode 1

Let the Experiment Be Made. His first 47 years, a period that saw the birth of the Enlightenment. Franklin took this intellectual revolution to heart, writing aphorisms based on it for the publication he founded, “Poor Richard's Almanack,” and making significant contributions to his fellow Philadelphians, contributions which included the ideas of public libraries and a volunteer fire department. Richard Easton plays Franklin; Colm Feore narrates.

Episode 2

The Making of a Revolutionary. Beginning in 1757, his years in London, sent from Pennsylvania on a mission to allow the colony to tax the Penn family's lands. Franklin arrived as an ardent admirer of the empire as well as a lover of the American colonies (“There's nothing I want more than the prosperity of both,” he says). Seventeen years later, he left—a revolutionary.

Episode 3

The Chess Master. The final 14 years of his life, nine of which were spent in Paris as ambassador to France from rebellious colonies across the sea. Franklin's primary objective was to secure financial and military aid, far from an easy task. To this he brought the skills of a chess master, able to think many moves ahead in the game.

Cast

Richard Easton John Richard Easton (March 22, 1933 – December 2, 2019) was a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial '' The Brothers''. Life and career Easton was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Mar ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

* Matthew Bentley - Benjamin Franklin as a child *

Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), '' Spide ...

- Benjamin Franklin as a young man *

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

- Narrator *

Gerry Bamman Gerald G. Bamman (born September 18, 1941) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for playing Uncle Frank in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992), and has also guest starred in several te ...

- Paul Wentworth *

Blair Brown Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play '' Copenhagen'' on Broadway, the leading actress in the films ''Altered States'' ...

Jane Franklin Jane, Lady Franklin (née Griffin; 4 December 1791 – 18 July 1875) was the second wife of the English explorer Sir John Franklin. During her husband's period as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, she became known for her philanthropic ...

Kathleen Chalfant Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the '' Law & Order'' ...

- Silence Dogood *

Anthony Cochrane Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton ...

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

* John Curless - William Strahan *

Peter Donaldson Peter Ian Donaldson (23 August 1945 – 2 November 2015) was an English newsreader on BBC Radio 4. Early life Donaldson was born in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to Cyprus in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of King Farouk. He was a frequen ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

* Jennifer Dundas -

Catherine Ray Catherine Ray (b. circa 1830) was a traveller, writer, teacher, social and political reformer, and the earliest English translator of Ibsen. Life Catherine Ray was born and raised in Suffolk. Her father died when she was three, and she was rep ...

Peter Gerety Peter Gerety (born May 17, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known as Judge Daniel Phelan in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Career Gerety is a veteran of stage, screen and television. In early 1992, he performed to critical acclaim on Broadway ...

Joseph Galloway Joseph Galloway (1731August 29, 1803) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 1700s. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would bec ...

Daniel Gerrol Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

Ronald Guttman Ronald Guttman (born 12 August 1952) is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer. Career Guttman was born in Uccle. He started appearing in French language productions in Europe in 1975, appearing in his first English-language film ...

- Le Comte de Vergennes *

Anthony Heald Philip Anthony Mair Heald (born August 25, 1944) is an American character actor known for portraying Hannibal Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, in '' The Silence of the Lambs'' and '' Red Dragon'', and for playing assistant principal Sco ...

- Jonathan Austin *

John Christopher Jones John Christopher Jones (7 October 1927 - 13 August 2022), known professionally as John Chris Jones, was a Welsh design researcher and theorist. He was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, went on to wor ...

- Ephraim Eliot * Simon Jones - Thomas Penn *

Eddie Korbich Eddie Korbich (born November 6, 1960) is an American actor, singer and dancer. He was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Career 1980s He graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a B.F.A. in acting in 1983. In 198 ...

- Jared Ruggles *

Roberta Maxwell Roberta Farnham Maxwell (born June 17, 1941) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actress. Biography Maxwell began studying for the stage in her early teens. She joined John Clark for two years as the child co-host of his '' Junior Magaz ...

- Deborah Read Franklin *

Jefferson Mays Lewis Jefferson Mays (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Ob ...

- Elkanah Watson * Martin Rayner -

Robert Whittington Robert Whittington (also called Robert Wittinton, or Robert Whitynton or Robert Whitinton) (c. 1480 – c. 1553) was an English grammarian. He was a pupil at Magdalen College School, Oxford, where he probably studied under the grammarian John St ...

Sebastian Roché Sebastian Roché (born 4 August 1964) is a French-American actor. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in ''Odyssey 5'', Jerry Jacks in '' General Hospital'', Thomas Jerome Newton in ''Fringe'', Balthazar in '' Supernatural'', Mikael in bot ...

- Vicomte * Natacha Roi - Madame Brillon de Joy * Andrew Seear - British government official *

Josef Sommer Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a retired German-American stage, television, and film actor. Early life He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a professor of Art ...

- Cotton Mather *

Jim True-Frost Jim True-Frost (''né'' True; July 31, 1966) is an American stage, television and screen actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski on all five seasons of the HBO program ''The Wire'', as James Woodrow in '' Tre ...

- William Franklin * Laurent St. Pierre - Count de Segur

VHS and DVD Release

Benjamin Franklin is on VHS & DVD.

External links

* *
''Benjamin Franklin''
on PBS 2002 television films 2002 films American documentary television films Biographical documentary films Cultural depictions of Benjamin Franklin Cultural depictions of John Adams Cultural depictions of George III Works about Benjamin Franklin 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{bio-documentary-film-stub