“John would have approved,” says Yoko Ono

PBS documentary about John Lennon by creator Susan Lacy

The documentary looks at her life in New York with John Lennon and their son, Sean, from 1971 until Lennon’s murder on the street in front of their apartment at The Dakota on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 1980.

Ms. Ono suddenly seems to have found new energy. She smiles, extends her hand and again takes up the labor of love she’s dealt with for 30 years as the champion of her husband’s life and work.

“I had so many things of my own I wanted to do this year. Then I remembered John would be 70, so I dropped the other things. I am concentrating on John because it’s a very special year,” says Ms. Ono during an interview at the Beverly Hilton

“American Masters” creator Susan Lacy says the two-hour documentary, made in close association with Ms. Ono, establishes the Liverpool-born Lennon as a true American artist.

“He was, to be sure, a Beatle. As Lennon-McCartney, part of the greatest songwriting team of our time. But for the last decade of his life, Lennon was an iconic solo artist, except for his collaborations with Yoko,” Ms. Lacy says. “It was New York City where most of his solo work originated. It was there, too, that he found peace and redemption, freedom to create a loving family with Yoko and live a normal life.”