American Masters on PBS

A fond and tuneful profile of Ella Fitzgerald (1917-96), narrated by Tony Bennett. It doesn't sugarcoat her troubled childhood and two failed marriages, or the rigors of a life lived mostly on the road. She had many friends, a number of whom are interviewed here, as is Fitzgerald (in a TV conversation with Andre Previn). She also had her music---sampled in clips from 1942 through the '80s. “She was the best,” says Johnny Mathis.