Lenora Claire

photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric Venturo

Lenora Claire is a Los Angeles based art curator, writer, glamour girl, performance artist-glass eater, and event producer. She’s had her own sideshow cabaret, as well as created and curated many art events including the "scandalous" and "mentally unbalanced" (according to publications such as The National Enquirer, Globe, LA TIMES, Los Angeles Magazine, LA WEEKLY, VARIETY, Bizarre Magazine, TMZ, NPR, HDTV, Current TV, AOL News, Chicago Tribune, Defamer) Golden Gals Gone Wild show that featured erotic depictions of the Golden Girls and the Bettie Page Heaven Bound show featuring the art of Olivia. Lenora recently had the honor of posing for the legendary artist making one of her teenage dreams come true.
She has written over 200 published articles and interviewed celebrities including Elvira, Lynda Carter, John Waters, Julie Newmar, Bob Mackie, and many more. She’s also been known to model and appear in films, music videos, and on TV. She’s currently working on her biggest dream, her very own TV show in development with Prudence Fenton (Pee Wee's Playhouse, Liquid Television).
I met Lenora Claire last year at Julie Newmar’s birthday party. We talked about shooting then and here are the results. She is charming and pleasant to everyone she meets and I really like that. Typically she is the center of any event she is at. As a model she is a unique and special beauty with an ability to evoke a ‘pure fun’ sexuality.
Eric Venturo and I set out to capture a moment with Lenora Claire and she delivered her end with charm and grace. After the shoot we had a chance to get to know what makes this vivacious redhead such a hit!

AM: I don’t know anything about you Lenora.

LC: I was born in New York but my parents moved to Los Angeles when I was six months old so I am about as native to LA as you can get.

AM: Were you always interested in art from day one?

LC: Yes. I started doing commercials when I was a baby. I was always a weird little kid doing weird art projects. I had this idea when I was a kid that nothing was scarier than a monster with a thousand mouths. At six years old I made a costume of this monster with a sheet and I put on all these mouths. My teacher asked me what I was doing. She knew it was me because she could see my pink Barbie shoes. I’ve always been the kid with strange ideas. I have always wanted to create experiences for people because an artist is someone who can make you think and feel through experiences.

AM: When you were a teenager did you want to be a model or artist or actress?

LC: When I was a teenager I was actually all those things already. I graduated form high school when I was fifteen and a half. I wanted to be a director as I was inspired by John Waters and I was already directing short films. I started film school but three days into it I said this isn’t for me. I was working pretty regularly as an actress at this time because I was finished with school and they didn’t have to hire a tutor for me. I show up randomly in many things from the 90’s. I also did a lot of music videos back then because it was a big industry at that time. I was selling my art as well. The modeling took off when I turned eighteen.

AM: You must have some things you would like to do that you haven’t yet.

LC: I’ve been really lucky to say I have made a living in entertainment as a journalist. I’ve had the pleasure to interview many people that I admired. I’ve made a living curating art and creating shows. The one thing that I want to do is have a television show and I have one in development right now. I want to get that on the air and that is really difficult. I’m really happy because I have done almost everything I wanted.

AM: Are you talking about a reality show?

LC: It’s a variety show called Apocalyptic and it is a little bit talk show, some animation, experimental film and other variety type performances. It wouldn’t be like anything that is on the air right now.

AM: Are you on YouTube?

LC: Oh yes I do a web series called Donuts. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a donut shop late at night but it is always filled with crazy people. I want to go to them in the middle of the night and interview people. There is an emphasis on the nuts! It looks like it will air on television in Europe.

AM: You actually have a lot going on in Europe don’t you?

LC: Yes it’s been really great. Last year a channel in France asked me to be the underground guide to Los Angeles for a five part series that aired. I still get a lot of French fan mail because of it. Right now the biggest thing I have going on commercially is I’m one of the faces of the USA Network’s Character Project Ad Campaign. I appear in commercials shown on CNN, NBC, USA, and I have a billboard in Times Square with my face on it. There is a giant portrait of me in the NBC Rockefeller building and I am in all the Subway stations. New York and France are pretty well covered.

AM: How did you meet the artist Olivia?

LC: When I was hosting the Underground LA series I had a really lavish birthday party at the Houdini Mansion and I invited her and she came! We hit off and she did a drawing of me. It turned into a great friendship. She asked me to pose for her then. It was great to work with her as a model and super cool to work with her on a show. When I was fifteen years old my bedroom was plastered with her art and I never imagined we would be friends.

AM: Did the other artists and photographers like Austin Young find you?

LC: Austin is a funny story. I had a photograph that Austin had taken on my folder when I was in Junior High. Years later I would see his photographs and I always thought he was so talented. About four or five years ago I was at my hairdressers and he told me his friend Austin was having a birthday party and I should come. I actually crashed his birthday party! He said he would love to photograph me and that’s how we became friends.

AM: How did you meet Joe and Kim Dallesandro?

LC: I think it was just through MySpace. I invited them to one of my shows and they came. I love them both!

AM: You are certainly a queen in the Underground Art World of LA!

LC: Thank you.

EV: I have a question for you. Where would you like to fall in Art history when it’s all said and done?

LC: I just want people to be talking about me and what I have done. That means you have affected people. I’m very proud of the Golden Girl show that I did. TMZ broke the story about the show and within an hour I had NPR and National Enquirer. It made me realize that my weird ideas had an interest level beyond me and my friends. It really got me going.

EV: I am looking forward to what you do next.

LC: Thank you. The other thing that is really important to me is that a lot of people think they can’t do things because they don’t have a lot of money or the art school experience but I am proof that is not true. People get excited about a good idea and if you are really passionate about what you are doing people will support you. Now I feel like I can pull off anything.

To learn more about Lenora Claire visit her MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/lenoraclaire

Private Investigator Ken Gamble

For more than two decades international private investigator Ken Gamble has been successfully tracking and capturing some of the most elusive con artists and fugitives in the world. From kidnapping to fraud to financial scams that total in the millions, Gamble has stayed one step ahead of the competition leaving a trail of criminals behind bars.

Most recently on May 11, 2009, the powerful combination of Gamble’s unwavering commitment, expertise and heart resulted in the return of a young girl into her Australian mother’s arms after she was kidnapped by her Egyptian father at the age of four. Gamble first learned of the case in April 2007 when the story aired on Australia’s A Current Affair when he watched the segment about a fruitless effort to find and rescue a little girl kidnapped by her strict Muslim father and living in hiding in Egypt. Gamble knew that he not only could but had to do something to help right this tragic wrong. Gamble was retained by the show to work on the case and started a long and complex search with the desperate and heartbroken mother, which ultimately led to the rescue of her daughter.

Sometimes my job brings me into contact with people who are not entertainers. I recently had the opportunity to work with private detective Ken Gamble. He was in Los Angeles taking care of some business and needed new photos, so of course I am available to anyone who needs pictures for any reason. The native Australian visited with me after our session and I learned a little about what it’s like to travel the world over spying on people.


AM: Hello Ken, Do you think you have developed a good sense of intuition from being a private detective?

KG: It’s funny you ask that because it does happen after years in the business. You actually develop a sense of intuition that is almost psychic. You get feelings about things and you go looking for different avenues and different leads. It’s built over years and years of watching, analyzing, and researching.

AM: Can you tell when people are lying?

KG: No…I don’t think any human being can tell if someone is lying. Certainly with some people it is more obvious than others. One of the things I have learned with my job is you can never tell when someone is lying. I’ve had some of the greatest Conmen on earth lie to my face and anyone would believe them. I don’t even believe in the lie detector test. In many countries in the world lie detectors are not admissible because people can beat them.

AM: Did you start off as a private detective or did you do something else?

KG: Originally I wanted to be in the police. I spent three years in the Army reserve as a young man. I wanted to be in the police, but I left school in the year ten when I was fifteen. I didn’t have the education to go into the police. At that time you had to have a year twelve education so I was not qualified educationally.

AM: Did realize you wanted to do something like that?

KG: I was always fascinated by detective work, spying on people and following people. I saw an ad in the paper one day about private investigation and that sparked my interest.

AM: What did you do to get started at this point?

KG: I started researching it without a hope that I would ever get in the business. Then my great uncle came to visit one day and he was in it for over twenty years. He asked me if I would consider getting into it. I said, ‘I would love to Uncle Ray, but how do I do it?’ He said, ‘Let me make a phone call.’

AM: Who did he call?

KG: He got me an interview with an agency in Sydney. I produced all my references and background. They were looking for young recruits at that time for training in surveillance. Once I got started I was put on a team with ten guys who were doing a lot of work on the Italian Mafia families that were doing insurance fraud.

AM: What cons were they doing?

KG: We discovered all these people that were setting up car accidents and claiming neck injuries. It was a multi-million dollar business. I was trained on the job by a lot of experienced men.

AM: What did you do then?

KG: I built up my business all through the nineties and I was one of the first private detectives in Australia to be hired by the Commonwealth Government. Only twenty companies in all of Australia were selected and I was one of the first.

AM: That is amazing. When did you start working internationally?

KG: Towards the late nineties I started getting involved with over seas work. I love the challenge of international work. I went to China and was asked to teach the Chinese people how to use hidden cameras and things like that. I did the same thing in the Philippines. I taught a bunch of people how to do covert work like take photographs and videos without being noticed and how to work discreetly.

AM: Is your job as glamorous as people think?

KG: That is an interesting conversation point. The glamorous side of what I do is traveling around the world like Dubai and staying in five star hotels and running operations hiring BMW’s and drivers. It all sounds glamorous when you think about it. Some of the places I go are so exotic and expensive so from that point of view people see my job as glamorous. There are points in my life when I am traveling and staying in places that people pay a lot of money for and I am having it all paid for and I am getting paid because I have to interview someone about a case. It’s incredible!

photos by Alan Mercer

Robert Forster

Actor, Producer, and Director Robert Forster burst on to the scene in 1967 with a starring role in the John Huston film, ‘Reflections in a Golden Eye’ starring Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. He also made a lasting impression in the film “Medium Cool’ in 1969. He has fifty-four television shows and seventy-nine movies to his credit.

By the late 1980s Forster's acting career had began to slide, with work becoming less and less, and if there was any, he would be cast in small parts playing villains. Forster then began to work as a motivational speaker and an acting coach in Hollywood film schools.

But in the mid 1990s, Forster's career was resurrected by writer-director Quinten Tarantino a long-time fan of Forster's early works whom offered him to audition for a part in his latest movie. After a seven-hour audition, Tarantino cast Forster in the role of the tough, but sympathetic, bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown (1997) which netted him an Academy Award nomination and some nationwide recognition.

I have always loved Robert Forster’s acting skills and on screen persona. He always comes off as a tough, but kind character. He was so gracious to work with. You would be hard pressed to find a more congenial man. We shot these photographs in natural light on an early afternoon. Eric Venturo was there to assist.

Robert Forster told us a couple of stories about his Hollywood beginnings after the shoot.


AM: Can you tell me about your first acting job?

RF: I got myself a job on Broadway in 1965 in a two character play named ‘Mrs. Dailey Has A Lover’ and I got a deal at Twentieth Century Fox. I came out to Los Angeles that same year and was a contract player at Fox. Darryl Zanuck had seen the screen tests I did and put me under contract. I never met him for several years.

AM: That is interesting that he didn’t meet you for so long.

RF: I was in on a pass. I had no idea how you do this business. All I knew was I had an agent and I went back to Rochester, New York and lived with my family.

AM: Did you have kids?

RF: I had daughters, but every once in a while I would get a job and then go do it. It didn’t last forever. I finally had to move to Los Angeles.

AM: Were you nervous about working with Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor?

RF: Basically I sort of snuck in, and as far as I am concerned, when I did that first picture with Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, I figured they had to be worried about me, not me worried about them. They KNEW what they were doing.

AM: You say you snuck in because you were inexperienced?

RF: I don’t know quite how I snuck in and I didn’t have any credentials. All I know is that John Huston gave me my first lesson in how to work in front of the camera.

AM: Can you tell me that story?

RF: I flew to New York after reading the book, ‘Reflections in a Golden Eye.’ My agent called me out here in LA. I had only been here for a few days. I drove out here with my brand new wife. My agent asked, ’Do you know who John Huston is?’ I said,
No I don’t.’ Well he wants to meet you for this new film. I read it quick and jumped on an airplane and flew to NYC. It was a hot bright Saturday afternoon and I found the hotel on Madison Avenue where I was going to meet this John Huston guy. As I walked in the hotel and my eyes got adjusted to the dim light I notice that all around me there were guys that looked just like me! I thought he wanted to meet ME for the part. This was a cattle call. I took one look at all the guys and said forget this. I walked around Midtown for a couple of hours and talked to myself.

AM: What made you go back and audition?

RF: I thought I should at least meet this guy. I did come all the way from California. I went back to the hotel and there were less guys. I put my name at the bottom of the list. There was ALWAYS a list. Eventually my name is called. I was escorted up the elevator. We wait outside a room and then I am escorted in the room and introduced to this tall old guy. (Imitating John Huston’s voice Robert says, ‘What have you done?’) I said, ‘Look I haven’t done much I did one Broadway play, it wasn’t bad but I don’t call myself an actor. I have never done a movie. I don’t know how they are made. I don’t know what the tricks are but if you hire me I’ll give you your moneys worth. He says, ‘Come in here Ray (legendary producer Ray Stark) I’d like you to meet an actor. I’m thinking who is this guy? In comes a little guy and we shake hands.

AM: John Huston and Ray Stark in one meeting. That is a lot of power. You obviously impressed them.

RF: John Huston then says I will be hearing from them. I figured that was the kiss off when somebody says you will be hearing from us, you don’t hear from anybody.

AM: So what happened next?

RF: I went back to Rochester to visit my father and I get off the plane and he says quick call your agent they worked out a deal for you. REALLY!! I didn’t know they worked that fast. I came back out to Los Angeles and my agent arranged a phone call with this John Huston guy. I told him I appreciate the fact that he hired me and thank you very much. Do you remember I told you I never did a movie? He said, ‘I remember.’ Then reading my mind he says, ‘I’ll give you some instruction.’

AM: That must have made you feel a little better. Did he have some words of wisdom for you?

RF: About a month later he comes out to Los Angeles. I meet him at Western Costume so we can do the wardrobe. I go straight to him. I said, ‘Do you remember you said you had some instructions for me. What are they?’ He says, ‘Not yet, Bobby.’ I thought well he is the boss.

AM: I bet you were getting really curious by now.

RF: I’m thinking maybe he is going to take me to lunch so I’ll wait. I wait and days go by turning into weeks turning into months and nobody calls. Finally I do get the call and we are going to meet on Long Island for ten days of shooting and then Rome for twelve weeks. I show up three days early and I ask John Huston where are the instructions you have for me? Huston replies, ‘Not yet Bobby, not yet.’ Ok I don’t know what he is waiting for but it’s now the night before we start shooting.

AM: He still hasn’t shared any information with you!

RF: We are all having dinner at a long table and John Huston is sitting right next to me and all during dinner I’m thinking when is he going to lean over to me and toss me these pearls of wisdom. At the end of dinner no such thing. I lean over to him and say, ‘We’re going to start this thing don’t you think now is the time to give me the instructions? He says, ‘Tomorrow morning Bobby, tomorrow morning.’ Tomorrow morning finally comes.

AM: I bet you were on pins and needles by this time.

RF: They put me in wardrobe and make-up and a car delivers me to the set. I get one foot out the door and from behind I hear John Huston say, ‘Now’s the time Bobby.’ I say I am all ears. He says, ‘Take a look through the lens. I look through the lens and I turn back to Huston and he has his hands in a little box shape that directors do. He says, ‘Those are the frame lines. Now ask yourself this. What needs to be there?’

AM: Is that all he said!?!

RF: He didn’t tell me that I would have to figure out what the writer needed and what the intention of the words were. He didn’t tell me about the guy with the lights and I had to be in them. He didn’t tell me about the sound guy needing to have the sound perfect or if I put the cup in the wrong place someone screamed, ‘No good for continuity.’ He didn’t tell me that I owed something to everybody on that set.

AM: But somehow you learned right away.

RF: You have to be ready to go when the director shouts action. You have to be able to bring this movie in on time. I remind people who think this is a really hard thing to do that there are actors I know, and I include myself in this, who I would not trust with a grocery list, but who can do that eight days a week. It is not that hard to create an action that works for everyone. It is more than just your needs. All you have to do is keep them in mind.

AM: Do you still audition?

RF: I must admit that I stopped auditioning some years ago because except for the first job I got I’ve always been offered jobs because if they didn’t want me they made me come in and read and then didn’t hire me. I’m 0 for 700. I have never gotten a job by reading for it. They are all politically given. You need someone to go to bat for you and say I want that guy. Otherwise you don’t get it. It’s a very political business and every single job is politically given no matter how big or small.

AM: Not many actors are this honest. Maybe this is why you are revered in Hollywood.

RF: Revered? That would be way over stating it. I don’t expect my dog to revere me. How lucky to be still standing and lucky to be still in it.

AM: Do you consider yourself fortunate to still be working?

RF: I had a long patch of rough spots in my career. The first five years were all up and the next 27 years were all down. That is the general shape of a career. Then I got lucky with Quinten Tarantino. You got a get lucky to have a career at all and you got be lucky to have a sustained career. I have gotten lucky and been blessed.

AM: Is it easy for you to cope with getting older?

RF: It is one of the things that is universal. Like all actors you have to learn to accept a loss of status. If you can’t handle a loss in status you have to stop working but I had kids all in collage so I could not stop working. I learned to take any job no matter what the level is. I took almost every job offered during that worst period of my career. Eventually I got lucky again and I’ve had a nice eleven year run since Jackie Brown.

AM: Jackie Brown is about the best Tarantino movie and you are phenomenal in it.


RF: Many thanks for that!

photos: Alan Mercer assisted by: Eric Venturo

To learn more about Robert Forster check out his web site http://www.robertforster.com/home/