When American Masters approached Marlee Matlin about making a documentary, she had one director in mind: Shoshanna Stern.
Like Matlin, Stern is deaf—and though she had never directed before, Matlin, who herself broke barriers by becoming the first deaf member of the Directors Guild of America just a few years earlier, had full confidence in her.
The result is Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, a deeply personal film that explores Matlin’s life story: growing up as the only deaf member of a hearing family; becoming the youngest Best Actress Oscar winner at 21 for her debut in Children of a Lesser God—a win some, like critic Rex Reed, unfairly dismissed as a “pity vote”; enduring what she has described as an abusive relationship with co-star William Hurt, which he denied; finding sobriety; and navigating an entertainment industry long unequipped to support deaf performers.
