HBO 90-minute documentary on Ben Bradlee airs tonight at 8 p.m. Told primarily in his own words, The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee traces the ascent of the Watergate-era Washington Post executive editor from a young Boston boy stricken with polio to the one of the 20th century's most consequential journalists. Bradlee's son, Quinn Bradlee, is a co-producer.

HBO says: The Newspaperman features previously unseen home movies, photos, archival footage and interviews with a who's who of American journalism, Washington insiders, and family and friends: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Quinn Bradlee, Courtland Milloy, David Maraniss, David Remnick, Don Graham, George Vaillant, Henry Kissinger, Ben Bradlee Jr., Jim Hoagland, Jim Lehrer, John Dean, Norman Lear, Richard Cohen, Robert Kaiser, Robert Redford, Sally Bedell Smith, Sally Quinn, Tina Brown and Tom Brokaw. See the trailer.