Bio

Brenda Fogarty

Brenda  started life singing, dancing and acting for mom as do many children.  In the 6^th grade she got part of Mary in the Christmas play and was to sing “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”.  When the piano started to play Brenda froze.  Nothing came out when she started to sing though she had rehearsed it many times.  The piano player started over many times and each time nothing came out of Brenda’s voice but a restricted tiny squeak.  All the children on stage with her mumbled something, the audience was clapping, voicing something and Brenda was terrified and embarrassed.  That was the end of her singing career, sad, but true.  Her real talent surfaced much later, as is evidenced by her writing and performing on her website  www.IntimateMonologues.com. Brenda acted in many plays in high school and college.  When she saw Connie Stevens in “Parish” as a young girl she decided then and there that she could do that and she focused on being cast as a lead or star in anything she did. At fourteen years old she was a coffee girl at The Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on the weekends and decided she would someday be a dancer or showgirl in the Casino de Paris, the largest and best show on the Las Vegas Strip. One day after many auditions for various shows on the strip her dream came true.  Frederique Apcar, the producer of Casino de Paris, called her and that was the beginning of her career in show business.   After this gig she was a Ronnie Lewis Dancer in a Las Vegas Revue in Chicago and then on to Beirut, Lebanon where she was a showgirl in the largest show in the world.  Many pictures of her in costume are on the Photos page on her website.  During her 18 months in Beirut she did 14 commercials for Kuwait and the Middle East.  One commercial was for an air conditioning company and Brenda had to ride a white Arabian horse up to 5 camel riders on the hot desert and say something about an air conditioner.  The next scene was the camel rider sitting next to an air conditioner in his tent. Soon before Brenda’s contract was to be renewed Madam Bluebell, who had all the dancers in the Lido in Paris, was in the audience one night.  Brenda called the three hotels where she would likely be staying and spoke to her.  She was invited to her hotel and they sat on the Vendome Hotel terrace overlooking the Mediteranian enjoying a few Planters Punches.  The following week Brenda was rehearsing in Paris as one of 3 principal dancers of Madam Bluebell’s private tour of Germany, Spain, Portugal and Geneva.  Four days into rehersal Brenda couldn’t remember any of the routines, felt embarrassed because the rest of the girls were professional dancers and picked up the steps easily and remembered them.  Brenda’s part was one of the 3 principal dancers and many times she would solo dance and had to be exceptional.  She said to Madam Bluebell, “You still have time to find someone else. I can’t do this and I’m slowing down the rehearsal.”  Madam Bluebell said in a stern voice, “Brenda, you have a challenge, now do it!” She turned and walked away and continued the rehearsal.  Brenda stayed with The Bluebell Girls for 18 months as a principal dancer changing the show every 3 weeks with four 8-minute numbers.  “I just ACTED the part of a dancer and it worked for me”, says Brenda.  You will see many of her Bluebell photos on her website, intimatemonologues.com. When Brenda finally returned to Los Angeles she quickly took acting classes and after auditioning for her first film she was cast in the starring role as the  teacher in Trip With The Teacher, also starring Zalman King as the psycho killer. This film went all over the world and today is known as a Drive-in Classic and Brenda is known as a Queen of the B-Movies.  “Cinderella” features Brenda in a cute comedic role that landed her a starring role in “Fairy Tales” soon after. IMDB.com has her films listed.  Just click on any one of them and all the rest come up. After years of auditioning and bit parts Brenda decided that the only way to show off her talent was to write her own material and perform her one-woman show, produced and directed by Brenda Fogarty.   She is now able to do all the characters that she was never cast as because some casting director couldn’t see it in her.  No one stands in Brenda’s way anymore.  She now has 12 30-minute shows, professionally shot with 3 cameras, on 4 dvds, over 6 hours of a wonderful viewing experience.   She writes and performs monologues about the experiences we ALL, as human beings, go through in life sooner or later, either personally or by observation. This site s for anyone, whether gay, straight (?), curious or undecided who loves to be entertained, appreciates good writing and wants to see a glimpse into the life of an actress who has either experienced it or just made it up. One day, in the 70’s, while working as a waitress and auditioning whenever she could, she overheard men at her table talking about the movies, locations, and budgets.  She asked one of the men what he did.  “I’m the head of the Teamsters Union, Local 399, the Studio Drivers Union”.  A few days later Brenda was in his office, got the proper driver’s license and became the 4^th female Studio Driver in Los Angeles.  She drove the cast and crew to and from location and worked on 100s of TV shows, soaps, commercials and feature films. Eventually she got seniority at Universal and was now a Class 1, which meant she worked a lot as a driver for over 14 years.  What a cool job!  “I remember when there were 858 drivers in one day.  I drove everything; fork lifts, limos, the shuttle bus around the lot, the garbage dump truck, station wagons for the art directors, directors and producers, cars used in films, 5-ton trucks for weeks at a time for the set dressers, and motorhomes for the stars.   Some of the stars I drove for were Lauren Bacall (I picked up her dogs at the groomers and carried her jewels), Goldie Hawn (I drove her shopping in Beverly Hills with the wardrobe lady and had lunch at the, then famous, Luau), Cisely Tyson (She took me to dinner at Something’s Fishy in Malibu before I drove her home),  Susan Sarandon (on Witches of Eastwich. I picked her up at her hotel, waited around while she worked and took her back to the hotel.  That night, when I was laid off and replaced by a guy, Susan called the studio and demanded me back.  I stayed her driver until she was finished.  What a nice woman she is).  I remember my very first day as a driver at Universal Studios. They gave me a limo and told me to pick up the actor at makeup.  I waited outside and all of a sudden Henry Fonda got in beside me in the passenger seat. I’ll never forget how my heart was beating out of my chest.  HENRY FONDA!!  He was filming Captains and Kings.  I asked him how Jane was and he said she was filming “Julia” and was in Europe doing well.  I just knew he was a proud father. He went into detail about Jane landing the role and where she would be filming.  He was so kind to me and we talked all the way to location. And this is the best of all.  While driving on Xanadu, a skating film, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, I was sitting in my station wagon and felt it moving.  Gene Kelly was doing his warm up exercises while holding onto my wagon.  I jokingly said, ”Will someone get this extra off my car?!”  We joked and talked a bit.  He was charming.  During lunch with the crew the 1^st AD whispered in my ear, “Mr. Kelly would like you to join him for lunch.”  In a minute Gene and I were having lunch together in his trailer.  He told me that many actors had people behind them but the best way was for “someone to reach down and pull you up past all those actors wanting the same job”.  He took me out to dinner five times.  While my mother was in the hospital he called her and wished her well.  He came to my home for lunch and invited me to his home.  He was so nice and fun and we laughed a lot.  During Christmas, he took me to Glen Ford’s house for dinner.  George Kennedy, Jean Simmons, Debra Raffin and their dates were there.  What a house!  Gene was so sweet to me and in case you are wondering, yes, he is a really good kisser.   No chance of anything more because it just wasn’t there for both of us, just a lot of fun. During 14 years as a driver I auditioned for TV, plays and films every chance I got.  Whenever I was cast it was always in a leading role.  I never had an agent who submitted me as much as I wanted or fought to get me an audition.   This is common for so many actors.  It just goes with the career.  It’s important to NEVER GIVE UP no matter how long it takes you.  Yes, there were months and years that I took a break due to my lack of confidence, but I always came back in with a renewed sense of self.  It was always easy to get into any office on the lot because everyone knew me as a driver.  I was always dropping off pictures and resumes.  Eventually I got a few B films, a bit on General Hospital & Young and Restless.  While on the Paramount lot I walked into a casting session for “Chesty Anderson, U.S.Navy, starring Shari Eubanks.  I knew the casting director and asked him if there was anything in it for me.  “No.” was his reply.  On my way out, I saw “DIRECTOR” on the door and walked right in without knocking.  The director looked up rather surprised that someone would just enter without knocking.  I told him that I was on the lot making the rounds and wondered if there was a part for me in his movie.  “Why, sure there is,” was his reply and I was cast for the part of “Brenda”.  They sent us to karate school for 10 days because there was a big karate fight between my gang and the good girls.  When the painter was putting names on the lockers in the barracks I told him to put “Brenda Fogarty” on one of the lockers, knowing my scene would take place directly in front of this one.  When you see the film, you’ll see “Brenda Fogarty” on the locker directly behind me clear as can be. Another time, while making the rounds, I walked into another casting session.  I had been submitted for it but didn’t get called in.  Knowing where it would be held, I walked in anyway.  The producer was standing there and I asked him if there was a part in his film for me as I handed him my p&r.  “Well of course there is, Brenda” was his reply.  The casting director was shooting daggers at me behind a fake smile.  That was for a CBS Movie of the week, “Gus Brown and Midnight Brewster”.  I played a sales lady in a department store and had a few lines. One night I got a call from the Associate Producer on a film.  She had been the wardrobe lady on “Beach Bunnies” a film I had the lead in a few weeks earlier.  She needed to replace an actress immediately for a scene to shoot the next morning with Joey Heatherton in “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington”.  She gave me my lines over the phone and I didn’t sleep at all learning them.  When the scene was done the director praised me and said he had never hired an actor that he hadn’t read and that he was very pleased with my work.  Ü Looking back on my very short and distant career I thought I had all the time in the world to be a star.  Perhaps I still do.  Time is such an elusive phenomenon.  I was in a committed relationship for over 14 years altogether and I devoted much of my time helping her become a chiropractor.  In other words I was co-dependent.  “Let me do for you, my dreams can wait, I’m strong and will always recover.”  I had no idea what co-dependent meant until we were breaking up and I went to my first meeting.  OMG!  I was so co-dependent it was sickening. Well, it was too late, our relationship had run its course and I was left to cry.  I started meditating because the pain was so intense.  I didn’t sleep for months, lost 15 pounds and couldn’t stop crying.  Divorce is so very painful.  We still loved each other but wanted and needed a new life.  She beat me to the door.  We just couldn’t continue as a couple any longer.  I meditated for 2 years, daily, while trying to find myself as single woman.  I loved being with her and always doing things together and being in love.  It was hard to discover who I was without her.  Eventually the pain subsided and I started to write.  I filled up 11 90-minute audio cassettes of my writing and then started memorizing them and filming them.  This was how my shows began.  One day the name came to me.  I write monologues and I’m gay so I will call them, “Intimate Monologues”. Procrastination ran my life for years.  I always knew that one day I would put up my site and sell my work for income but I always put it off.  I became addicted to struggle.  I worked odd jobs, became a Realtor and Life insurance agent and struggled, and struggled and struggled.  I always knew one day I would do what I loved which was writing and performing but that day never came.  I didn’t ever consider myself homeless, though I lived in my motorhome with my dogs.  I always knew I was an actor and that someday I would be well-known around the world because of my work. Living in a motorhome certainly has its advantages.  I have no rent, no neighbors complaining about barking dogs, no landlord wanting the rent on time, (how rude), or telling me I can have only one dog under twenty-five pounds or working my tail off every month just to pay the rent to store my stuff.  I am truly happy.  Someday soon I’ll buy a nicer, newer motorhome.  I am not homeless, though some think that I am.  I am a Realtor, an entrepreneur and an actor.  I write about many of the subjects we ALL, as human beings, go through in life sooner or later.  Someday soon I will be known around the world.  I am lifting the consciousness of the planet. Today’s date is January 25, 2012.  I have more stories to tell, like inviting Arnold over for dinner and him staying the night.  We were both in our 20s so don’t be go gittin’ any funny ideas now.  And the next day I took him horseback ridin’.  Those were the days my friend.”    To be continued when the mood hits me.   Brenda Fogarty Brenda@IntimateMonologues.com www.IntimateMonologues.com End