Hollywood stories and celebrity memoirs can be found everywhere today. But never have entertainment books been written that offer an insider’s backstage – and on stage – view of the inner workings of the entertainment industry at nearly every level over a period of nearly six decades. Nobody could ever write such a series of books – save for one man – Ben Bryant.
While in his acting phase, Bryant shared the stage or screen (as well as personal occasions) with literally dozens of household name level stars such as Clint Eastwood, Christopher Walken, Charles Bronson, Claire Trevor, Roy Rogers, David Carradine, Jerry Orbach, Mary Martin, Raul Julia and scores of others. In his second book, covering his years as a freelance producer, he presents a vividly entertaining view of the world of movie and television production. Now comes the last book of Ben Bryant’s exceptional autobiographic trilogy. As has been evident in his two previous volumes, 'Three Stages' and 'Circumstances Beyond My Control', Ben’s "Journey" has been anything but ordinary or average.
Spanning from 1990 through 2014, the central story in the third volume is his losing and regaining the love of his life. This painful yet ultimately joyous saga is framed by his continuing artistic evolution, finally, as an editor and director in video.
Ben found his most creative expression as an editor. The process of taking hours and hours of disparate video and shaping it into a coherent, comprehensible and compelling form has provided his greatest sense of artistic expression. He shares these experiences from the arduous initial learning process through fascinating – often hilarious – tales of numerous projects. He skillfully demystifies the technical details of this complex craft making it clearly comprehensible to the uninitiated. 'Waiting for Elizabeth' is a satisfying and happy completion of these extraordinary memoirs.
"After thirty seven months – with the publication of 'Waiting for Elizabeth: My Journey, Book 3' – I’ve completed my memoirs," Bryant stated. "The process of remembering, fact-checking and the shaping of this seventy-nine year chronicle of an artist’s life into readable and, I hope, entertaining books has been at various times fun, grueling, painful, freeing, enlightening and, ultimately, very satisfying."
"When I began jotting down a few memories I had no intention to write a book but the reminiscence took on a life of its own and after six weeks there were over a hundred pages and I couldn’t stop. 'Wow,' I thought, 'I seem to be writing an autobiography.'"
"This experience reflects the way I’ve lived most of my life. You could say that I followed the Yogi Berra philosophy; ‘When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
"I’m glad I took this particular fork and am pleased with the outcome. I hope readers will be too."
Ben Bryant’s captivating stories capture the entertainment industry experience in ways no other work has ever captured it before or ever will again. He is a consummate storyteller. Every segment of the industry – theatre, television, Las Vegas, national tours, The Metropolitan Opera and the Broadway stage – occupies a place in his engaging tales. Bryant’s "backstage view" of the world of entertainment is panoramic. His up close and personal stories form the basis of a work that readers will find revealing, amusing and wildly entertaining.
While working as an actor/singer, Ben Bryant performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as on stages and in concert halls all over the USA and Canada. He was even briefly an opera singer at the Met. He has known and worked with many extraordinary people. After leaving the stage he worked as a motion picture camera assistant, a sound man, a producer, a production manager, an assistant director, a cameraman, a video director and editor. He was involved in the production of over 1,000 commercials and several movies, short films and documentaries. During his years in production he worked with many more household name level stars - from Carole King whose Central Park concert he production managed to Tony Randall and Paul Newman with whom he did commercials as an Assistant Director.
While the first two books gave readers a glimpse of the who, what, where, when and how of his life, 'Waiting For Elizabeth' finally tells readers '"why". The "why" is the love of his life, Elizabeth Hepburn.
Ben Bryant is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at authorauthor@earthlink.net. All three books are available at Amazon in Kindle format, at Barnes & Noble for Nook and at Payhip in all eBook formats. Paperback versions are available at Lulu.com. More information is available at Bryant’s website at http://www.EntertainmentBooksByBen.com.
About Ben Bryant:
Ben Bryant’s show business and real world careers include being a line gang grunt, a jackhammer operator, a swimming and water safety instructor, a gym trainer, an Air Force medic, a choir director, an oratorio soloist, a musical theatre singer, an actor, a jazz arranger, a recording artist, a theatre director, operating partner in a typography company, a magazine production manager, a dancer, a motion picture camera assistant, a sound man, a producer, a motion picture production manager, an assistant director, a cameraman, a video editor, an author, a mentor and a video director.
He has performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as on stages and in concert halls in the USA and Canada. He has worked with or known stars such as Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Neil Diamond, Mel Brooks, Frank Zappa, Christopher Walken, Charles Bronson, Dave Brubeck, Roy Rogers, David Carradine, Jon Voight, Michael Bennett, Leonard Bernstein, Tony Martin, Charles Durning, Mary Martin, Jack Benny, Jack Jones, Frankie Avalon, Barbara Hershey, Dale Evans, Ricardo Montalban, Raul Julia, Cyd Charisse, Alan King, Jerry Orbach and many others.
Contact:
Ben Bryant
authorauthor@earthlink.net
http://www.entertainmentbooksbyben.com
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