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Biography is a documentary television program made by the A&E Network in the US, and aired in South Africa on the History Channel and the Crime & Investigation Network, both of which are part of pay satellite service DStv.
Originally produced by CBS in 1962 and hosted by Mike Wallace, the A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987.
The series has featured biographies on such people as Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Pope John Paul II, Enrico Caruso, Diego Rivera, Mick Foley, Mao Zedong, and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom.
The program ended up profiling enough figures, that in 1999 A&E spun the program 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.
A&E cancelled Biography after August 2006, making the show exclusively available on The Biography Channel.
Biography has been hosted by Peter Graves, Jack Perkins, Karen Hughes, and Harry Smith. Since Smith's departure in 2003, the show has been done in voice-over by Neil Ross.