Kevin Burns

Kevin Burns (June 18, 1955 – September 27, 2020) was an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter. His work can be seen on A&E, National Geographic Channel, E!, Animal Planet, AMC, Bravo, WE tv, Travel Channel, Lifetime, and The History Channel. Burns created and executive-produced more than 800 hours of television programming.

Biography

Early life Born on June 18, 1955, Burns grew up in Niskayuna, New York. Raised Roman Catholic, he graduated from St. Helen’s School before attending Niskayuna High School. In 1977, he graduated cum laude from Hamilton College. In 1981, he received both a master's degree in film from Boston University's College of Communication and a Student Academy Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his first film, I Remember Barbra, a humorous documentary short that profiled Barbra Streisand's impact on her former Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. After graduation, Burns taught film production at the university, as well as heading the school's Film Unit, a group that allowed students to gain real-world experience by producing commercials, public service announcements, documentaries, and other projects for clients. In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began working as an executive at 20th Century Fox Television.

Career While at Fox, Burns co-founded Foxstar Productions, the production unit responsible for creating a series of Alien Nation movies for television. In 1994, while serving as senior vice-president of Foxstar, he founded Van Ness Films, a non-fiction and documentary production unit. That same year, he met Jon Jashni, a Fox film executive who shared his interest in the works of legendary Hollywood producer Irwin Allen.

In 1999, Burns also created Prometheus Entertainment, a company specializing in documentary, reality, and non-fiction programming and specials. Here, Burns continued to produce and direct a wide variety of programming, including the reality show The Girls Next Door on E! (about the adventures of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's three live-in girlfriends ), High Maintenance 90210, Hollywood Science for the National Geographic Channel, Food Paradise and Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (both for the Travel Channel) along with Kendra and Holly's World, both spin-offs of The Girls Next Door.

In 2002, Burns received his first of two Emmy Awards as executive producer for A&E's Biography series. That same year, he was selected by George Lucas and Lucasfilm to produce and direct the 150-minute documentary feature Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. Four years later, he was again selected by Lucas to produce and direct Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, a feature-length documentary that premiered on The History Channel and went on to earn three Emmy Award nominations. Other specials include Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, which Burns co-produced with Superman Returns director Bryan Singer; Spider-Man Tech; Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest; Batman Unmasked; Batman Tech; The Valkyrie Legacy, his second co-production with Bryan Singer; and Angels & Demons: Decoded in 2009.

Since 2010, Burns and his company Prometheus Entertainment have produced The History Channel TV series Ancient Aliens, America's Book of Secrets, and The Curse of Oak Island, as well as the reality TV series Kendra on Top for WEtv, and other non-fiction series and specials.

Along with his business partner Jon Jashni, Burns played an integral part in the development and creation of the Lost in Space reboot for Netflix and was serving as executive producer on the show.

Death Burns died on September 27, 2020, of cardiac arrest at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and nominations Primetime Emmy Awards Nominated: Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program, Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies (1996) Won: Outstanding Non-Fiction Series (Informational), Biography (2002) Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Biography (TV Series) (2006) Nominated: Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007) Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Special, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007) Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Biography (TV Series) (2007) Nominated: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)

Daytime Emmy Awards Won: Outstanding Special Class Special, Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2003)

DVD Exclusive Awards Nominated: Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001) Won: Best Original Retrospective Documentary, *Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001) Won: Best Behind the Scenes Program (New for DVD), Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2005)

International Monitor Awards Won: Documentaries – Director, Hollywood Aliens & Monsters (1998)

Student Academy Awards, US Won: Documentary, I Remember Barbra (1981)

Filmography

FilmYearCredited as Notes Director Producer Writer I Remember Barbra 1981 In Our Hands 1982 Meet Bertice 1993 Alien Nation: Dark Horizon 1994 uncredited Biography 1995-2005 director 1995-1997 writer 1996-1997 The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen 1995 Alien Nation: Body and Soul 1995 uncredited A Hollywood Christmas 1996 Alien Nation: Millennium 1996 Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies 1996 Monster Mania 1997 Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults 1997 Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults 1997 Twentieth Century-Fox: The First 50 Years 1997 Hollywood Aliens & Monsters 1997 Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood 1998 Beyond Titanic 1998 Behind the Planet of the Apes 1998 Lost in Space Forever 1998 Hugh Hefner: American Playboy Revisited 1998 TV Guide Looks at Cops 1998 TV Guide Looks at Christmas 1998 Famous Families 1998 17 episodes The Bunny Years 1999 Who Knew? 1999 Bride of Monster Mania 1999 Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania 1999 Hollywood's Hot Wheels 1999 Hollywood Screen Tests 1999 Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 1999 Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the Chinese Theatre Footprints 2000 The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood's Scariest Insect 2000 Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years 2000 Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years 2000 Backstory 2000 producer 55 episodes writer 2 episodes Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood 2001 Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days 2001 The Omen Legacy 2001 History vs. Hollywood 2001 16 episodes The Time Tunnel 2002 Inside The Playboy Mansion 2002 Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s 2002 The Alien Saga 2002 Monsterama 2003 24episodes Hell Up in Hollywood: Soul Cinema and the 1970s 2003 50 Greatest TV Animals 2003 Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest 2003 Sex at 24 Frames Per Second: The Ultimate Journey Through Sex in Cinema 2003 Playboy's 50th Anniversary Celebration 2003 Monsterama: Munsters Collectibles 2003 Monsterama: Aurora Model Kits 2003 The Robinsons: Lost in Space 2004 Just the Facts 2004 50 Greatest Movie Animals 2004 Love Hollywood Style 2004 Animal Icons 2004 17 episodes Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy 2004 Ultimate Super Heroes 2005 Ultimate Super Villains 2005 Ultimate Super Vixens 2005 The Girls Next Door 2005-2009 Poseidon 2006 Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman 2006 The Science of Superman 2006 Hollywood Science 2006 5 episodes High Maintenance 90210 2007 6 episodes Spider-Man Tech 2007 Star Wars Tech 2007 Star Warriors 2007 Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed 2007 Food Paradise 2007-2013 52 episodes Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest 2008 Batman Unmasked 2008 Batman Tech 2008 Vegas Revolution 2008 6 episodes The Valkyrie Legacy 2008 Kendra 2008-2011 Ladies or Gentlemen 2008 The Face is Familiar 2009 Angels & Demons: Decoded 2009 Bridget's Sexiest Beaches 2009 Holly's World 2009-2011 19 episodes The President's Book of Secrets 2010 Ancient Aliens 2010-2020 Hef's Runaway Bride 2011 Civilization: Lost 2011 How Playboy Changed the World 2012 The Godfather Legacy 2012 America's Book of Secrets 2012-2013 33 episodes Birth/Mothers 2012 Kendra on Top 2012-2017 Bible Secrets Revealed 2013-2014 6 episodes Target: Earth 2013 Secret Societies of Hollywood 2013 5 episodes In Search of Aliens 2013 10 episodes The Curse of Oak Island 2014-2020 Cesar Millan: Love My Pit Bull 2014 Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color 2015 The Secret Life of: America's Tallest Buildings 2017 Vanished 2017 The Tesla Files 2018 The Curse of Civil War Gold 2018 Lost in Space 2018