Nevins

In 1979, Sheila Nevins was hired to run the channel’s burgeoning documentary programming, eventually becoming president of HBO Documentary Films.

“Back then, HBO was a haven to make these really cool films,” recalls Oscar-nominated director Nanette Burstein, who first worked with Nevins as a co-writer and editor on 1995’s “Before You Go: A Daughter’s Diary.”

In 2019, Nevins left HBO for MTV Documentary Films, but Burstein, whose HBO documentary “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” recontextualizes the Hollywood legend through a never-before-heard interview, credits current heads Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, along with Senior Vice President Sara Rodriguez, with continuing Nevins’ championing of the director’s voice.

“Sheila Nevins deserves enormous credit, not only for documentaries at HBO but documentaries, period,” agrees Gibney.

Andrea Blaugrund Nevins’ love of storytelling led her to the rural South, to ABC News in her native New York and, ultimately, Hollywood, where she produced and directed documentaries about dancers, punk rockers and the queen’s horse trainer.