Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive

Actor Denis O'Hare and American Masters Executive Producer Michael Kantor discuss the making of the film "Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive."

When Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances, his literary rival, Rufus W. Griswold, wrote a high-profile obituary filled with falsehoods that cast him as a lunatic and a madman.

After the extremely successful release of Poe's "The Raven," he became famous for his dramatic readings of the poem. Tony Award-winning and Emmy-nominated actor Denis O’Hare ("This Is Us," "American Horror Story," "Take Me Out," "True Blood") stars as Poe in this documentary.

"There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told..." Follow Edgar Allan Poe (portrayed by Denis O'Hare) as he traces the steps of a solitary man through a crowded street.

Throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe lost the women he loved, including his mother, adoptive mother and wife, many to tuberculosis. Their absence played a huge role in his writing. According to Poe, who often focused on death and loss in his works, "the death, then, of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world."

Actor Denis O'Hare (American Horror Story, This Is Us) discusses the "tough" job of preparing for the role of Edgar Allan Poe: "There's so much information about him, and in a way you have to filter out all of the biases you have about who you think he is and get to who the man really was." The man he discovered was emotionally intense, brilliant and creative.

Listen to a compilation of Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven," read by Megan Marshall, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Lewis, Matthew Pearl, Jeffrey Meyers, Jerome McGann, Stuart Gordon, James Hutchisson, Harry Lee Poe, Scott Peeples, Ben Schnetzer, Chris Sarandon, Chris Semtner, Garrison Keillor and Roger Corman.

In a scene inspired by artist John Sartain's memoir, "Poe's Last Days," Denis O'Hare embodies the caricature of a nervous, ranting and raving Poe, possibly hallucinating, dipping in and out of sanity.

Filmmaker Roger Corman was initially drawn to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" because of the macabre setting. After the film was a great success Corman was asked to continue adapting Poe's works for cinema, going on to make "The Pit and the Pendulum," among others.

Filmmaker Roger Corman discusses some of the challenges he faced in bringing Edgar Allan Poe's stories to life in a full-length film.

In adapting Edgar Allan Poe's writing for cinema, filmmaker Roger Corman wanted to emphasize the insulation of the unconscious mind. He worked on a closed sound-stage to create a hazy, dream-like world.

Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious death and obituary filled with falsehoods contributed to his mythic legacy. How well do you know Edgar Allan Poe? See if you can separate fact from fiction.