Biography: Pioneers Turned Millionaires > Biography

PIONEERS TURNED MILLIONAIRES BIOGRAPHY Wednesday 25th August at 8.30pm

Five visionary entrepreneurs from the "old world" redefined the economy of the "new world" and left a major imprint on American culture.

Levi Strauss, Henry E. Steinway, William E. Boeing, John Jacob Astor and Henry J. Heinz - one can hardly ignore their names or products anywhere in the world today.

Innovation, courage, persistency and hard work were the attributes that made them succeed in a strange new country. With the help of high-end reconstructions and exquisite archive material, this fascinating series presents one of the most fascinating and exciting eras of American economic history.

How did these five men, who all started out as immigrants, become archetypical self-made millionaires that even now epitomize the success story that is America?

We visit the companies of Levi Strauss & Co., Steinway & Sons, Heinz Ketchup and Boeing. We see how each of their founders had a novel and brilliant idea, used it to established a company, and gained fame, honour and wealth.

Pioneers Turned Millionaires is a definitive portrait of these five entrepreneurial giants. Businessmen who have their homeland in common and their place in history secured. They had left for economic, social, political or religious reasons but all to find a better life in the United States of America.

Find out how these Pioneers Turned Millionaires did it on the Documentary Channel, Wednesday 25th August at 8.30pm.