Burt Kearns


Burt Kearns is an American author, journalist, and television and film producer, writer and director, whom Donald Liebenson of Vanity Fair referred to as a "show business and pop culture savant."
Kearns's first book, the television memoir Tabloid Baby, was published in 1999. The Show Won't Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage, which he wrote with Jeff Abraham, was published in 2019. His biography of actor Lawrence Tierney, Lawrence Tierney: Hollywood's Real-Life Tough Guy, was published in December, 2022 by the University Press of Kentucky. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books published Kearns’ book, Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel, on April 2, 2024. Kearns's book, Shemp! The Biography of the Three Stooges' Shemp Howard, The Face of Film Comedy, was published on October 1, 2024, also by Applause.
In 2018, he became a contributor to the literary pop culture website, PleaseKillMe.com. In December 2021, he began to contribute written and video pieces to Legs McNeil’s literary pop culture website, Legsville.com.

Early career

After graduation from Fairfield University in 1978, Kearns worked as a reporter and editor for the Acorn Press, a chain of newspapers in southern Connecticut and Westchester, New York. He moved to Manhattan, where he was hired on the assignment desk at WNEW-TV's 10 O'Clock News. Kearns also wrote for CBS News' Nightwatch and CBS Morning News. In October 1983, he joined WNBC-TV’s News 4 New York team as a newswriter and producer of the eleven o’clock newscast. While at NBC, he freelanced as a writer for Spin magazine.
Kearns joined the show A Current Affair in 1989. Kearns also worked on to the rival show Hard Copy, as managing editor and producer. In 1994, he was senior producer of Premier Story. Kearns was included in Maury Povich's 1991 memoir, Current Affairs: A Life on the Edge.
Kearns left tabloid television and began writing Tabloid Baby in 1996. A combination memoir and exposé, the book was published in November 1999 by Hambleton-Hill's Celebrity Books imprint.

Television and film production

Writer and producer

He appeared on-camera in the Reelz nonfiction special program, Kardashian: The Man Who Saved OJ Simpson. He was executive producer of the Reelz nonfiction special El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle In The Jungle. Kearns was also director, writer and executive producer of Hollywood Animal Crusaders for Animal Planet and co-producer of the HBO documentary Panic. He was producer of the Fox Television special, When Good Pets Go Bad 2, and executive producer and showrunner of series including the syndicated Strange Universe. and Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. He was a creator and executive producer of Breaking the Ice, a docuseries following the first diverse, competitive synchronized ice skating team. The series premiered on WE tv in 2023 and streams on AMC's ALLBLK platform. Kearns cowrote, produced and edited the 2025 nonfiction film, Pusherman: Frank Lucas and the True Story of American Gangster, directed by Legs McNeil.

Independent features and Good Story Productions

Kearns directed the nonfiction film, El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, which opened on August 15, 2009 at the 35th annual The Fest For Beatles Fans in Chicago. Kearns produced the nonfiction film comedy High There. High There and the Montez film were produced through his Good Story Productions production company.

Frozen Pictures

In 2000, Kearns formed the production company Frozen Television with producer Brett Hudson. Kearns was an executive producer on All the Presidents' Movies for Bravo and The Secret History of Rock ’n’ Roll with Gene Simmons and Adults Only: The Secret History of The Other Hollywood for Court TV.
With Hudson and Albert S. Ruddy, Kearns wrote and produced the 2006 Twentieth Century-Fox film, Cloud 9, starring Burt Reynolds, which was a joint production of Frozen and The Ruddy Morgan Organization.
He directed and produced the 2008 documentary musical film, The Seventh Python, about the career and influence of Monty Python collaborator and Bonzo Dog Band member Neil Innes, and directed and produced Basketball Man, the 2007 Frozen Pictures documentary film that featured interviews telling the story of the game's inventor, James Naismith. The film was released on DVD on May 8, 2007.
Kearns founded the website, Saintmychal.com, that chronicled and promoted the canonization of 9/11 victim Mychal Judge.

Awards