News

None of the original members of Easy Company from HBO's Band of Brothers are still alive today, but two members depicted in the series, Ed Shames and Bradford Freeman, passed away recently. Major Dick Winters, Lewis Nixon, Buck Compton, and Bill Guarnere are among the notable characters from the series who have passed away. Edward Shames was the last officer from Easy Company to die, while Bradford Freeman was the last living member of the squad.

HBO's Band of Brothers series documents the true story of the Easy Company of the United States Army during World War II. Officially regarded as the E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the real-life squad was also referred to as the "Screaming Eagles". The masterful HBO series from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg chronicles a dramatized version of the historical events that a group of...

David Schwimmer's portrayal of Captain Sobel in Band of Brothers has been criticized for not accurately depicting the real Jewish members of Easy Company. The series, despite striving for historical accuracy, reinforces negative stereotypes of weak and "unathletic" Jewish individuals through the character of Captain Sobel. The omission of the religion of Ed Shames, a practicing Jew and intelligence officer in Easy Company, adds insult to injury for the way Jewish characters are treated in the series.

David Schwimmer's character in Band of Brothers has come under scrutiny in recent years, and even been embroiled in a fair amount of controversy. Based on the book of the same name written by Stephen E. Ambrose, the series followed the exploits of Easy Company during WWII, who were prepped and trained in the United States by Schwimmer's Captain Sorbel. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the popular and gritty mini-series...

Editor’s note: First in a series of stories tied to the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Exclusive: “We halted for two weeks, then continued, providing a sobering tonic, I think,” says Tom Hanks of the debut of the acclaimed Band of Brothers in 2001 and the terror attacks of 9/11 that followed two days later.

Long a custodian of nation’s better angels and a chronicler of our everyday heroes, it is almost impossible now to think of the leap the multiple Oscar winner and miniseries co-creator Steven Spielberg took with HBO 20 years ago. Ushering in the era of what became known as “Prestige TV,” the 10-episode World War II drama based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992 best seller of the same name also proved a bracer to an America battered by seeing four commercial airliners were turned into fatal missiles by 19 Al-Qaeda members.

Today a Band of Brothers podcast debuted to...