Guggenheim Productions, Inc. (GPI), is an American documentary film company based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in making historical, social, and political films. The company’s roots were in St. Louis, Missouri, where founder Charles Guggenheim served as director of one of the first public television stations in the country, KETC, before starting Charles Guggenheim & Associates in 1954. Guggenheim was active in the company from 1954 to 2002.|Charles Eli Guggenheim (1924-2002) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, served in the Army during World War II, and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1948. Before establishing his own company, Guggenheim produced films for NBC, served as chief producer for the Ford Foundation’s experimental adult education television project, and oversaw a community-operated educational television station in St. Louis.

Guggenheim relocated his company to Washington, D.C., in the mid-1960s and began working with George Stevens Jr. who was director of United States Information Agency (USIA) and a lifelong friend. The USIA operated a media broadcasting division active in public diplomacy. In its early years Guggenheim Productions created hundreds of advertisements for political campaigns. Guggenheim used documentary filmmaking techniques to produce personal and emotional half-hour candidate biographies, an innovative and disarming approach designed to persuade voters. Guggenheim worked with numerous Democratic candidates and was responsible for presidential media campaigns for Adlai Stevenson in 1956, Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, George McGovern in 1972, and Edward Kennedy in 1980.

To meet the demand for its films, Guggenheim Productions often drew on a stable of production personnel. Production members associated with GPI films include Tom Ackerman (director of photography), Owen Armstrong, Sidney R. Aronson (production manager), Michael Bacon (music), Herbert Franklin Decker (production manager), Lester M. Goldsmith (writer/director), son Davis Guggenheim (director), daughter Grace Guggenheim (producer), Richard Heffron (director), T. Iglehart (writer), Harry Muheim (writer), Robert Pierce (director), Mike Ritter (editor), Werner Schumann, Shelby Storck (director), Pierre Vacho (director), Toni Vellani (producer), and Bob Wykes (music). Through Guggenheim Productions, Charles Guggenheim went on to specialize in non-fiction films on historical figures and events, often with a political bent. The principle themes in the company’s filmography were social, political, and architectural.

Charles Guggenheim was the most honored documentary filmmaker in Academy history, having received twelve Academy Award nominations and winning four Oscars. Guggenheim received Academy Awards for the documentary short subjects "Nine from Little Rock" (1964) on school integration, "The Johnstown Flood" (1989), and "A Time for Justice" (1994) on the civil rights movement; and for the live action short subject "Robert Kennedy Remembered" (1968). Guggenheim served on the Academy’s Documentary Awards executive committee from 1999 to 2002, was a Leadership Council member of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and served as president of the National Archives Foundation. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Washington University in St. Louis.

Charles Eli Guggenheim was an American media consultant and documentary filmmaker active in film from the 1950s to 1990s. He was the founder of an eponymous production company that specialized in non-fiction films on historical figures and events, often with a political bent. Guggenheim received Academy Awards for the documentary short subjects NINE FROM LITTLE ROCK (1964), THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD (1989), and A TIME FOR JUSTICE (1994); and for the live action short subject ROBERT KENNEDY REMEMBERED (1968).