Brenda Venus

Brenda Venus
Black and white portrait of Brenda Venus Black and white portrait of Brenda Venus
Occupation	Author, actress, producer & director.

Brenda Venus is an actress, author, ballet dancer, director, and producer. In her early 20s, Brenda Venus met the famed Henry Miller in June 1976. He became her mentor and she his muse. Over 4,000 pages of letters were written by Henry Miller which were later collected into the book, "Dear, Dear Brenda" – The Love Letters of Henry Miller to Brenda Venus(ISBN 0-688-02816-0). In addition, she is a best-selling author: "Secrets of Seduction for Men" (ISBN 9780452286429) and "Secrets of Seduction for Women" (ISBN 9780760790700). Her books have been translated into 37 languages. Publishers William Morrow and E.F. Dutton sent her on a worldwide publicity tour making various appearances on TV, radio and press interviews. For over 6 years, Venus wrote a column for Playboy and freelanced for Cosmopolitan, Details and Esquire.

Brenda Venus' latest book, "Twelve Hours - An Erotic Love Story" was released December 2011 and is available through Twelve-Hours.com

Early career

Brenda Venus began her career as a beauty queen, then a ballerina for American Ballet Theatre, fashion and swimsuit model, film actress and later a producer, director and editor of documentaries. Also, she is a photographer and cinematographer. She also had her own radio show on KROC in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Photographs and paintings of Venus

George Hurrell included her photo in his last photo album of famous movie stars. and Pompeo Posar, photographed Venus for a magazine.

Ken Marcus, a protege of Ansel Adams, was Venus' sole photographer for over 10 years and published a book of black-and-white photos, titled Venus.

Artist Gary Dobry painted a series of works inspired by Venus for a 2010 exhibition called Mentors at the Zhou B Art Center/Art Matrix Gallery, Chicago.

Film and TV

Brenda Venus appeared in the Clint Eastwood film, The Eiger Sanction and several other films. She also appeared as a host/narrator in, Love & Sex in LA

• Kung Fu-The Demon God with David Carradine
• FM
• 48 Hrs.
• Valentino
• The Ballerina
• Against a Crooked Sky
• Love & Sex in LA

She appeared on the soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful. She also appears in a short documentary film, Dinner With Henry.

Relationship with Henry Miller

Venus met American novelist Henry Miller when she was in her early twenties, and became his muse.

In his book Joey, Miller wrote of Venus: "To love at the end of ones life is something special. Few women can inspire that sort of love. To wake up with the words of love on one's lips--what bliss! Just to say "Brenda" puts me in ecstasy."

Miller's long-time friend and confidant, fellow novelist and poet Lawrence Durrell wrote in the introduction to Miller's book Dear, Dear Brenda that: "The role of Brenda Venus will keep its interest and importance also as a memorial of his last great attachment--an Ariel to his Prospero... She enabled him to dominate his infirmities and to experience all the Joys of Paradise."

According to writer Ed Millis, Venus was a source of inspiration to the aging and ailing Miller: "Brenda was 20, Henry was 84. She was a beautiful Southern belle, "The Boticelli of Mississippi" -- he called her. Henry, the renegade intellectual, the writer, had taken millions of us to the sexy Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. Now he was sick and slowly recuperating. He needed a lift in spirits... Brenda the Muse breathed life into her mortal charge and gave him reason to live. He wrote her over 4,000 letters and gave her focus and fine tuning!"

Russian Play

On her birthday, November 10, Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin requested that she visit Moscow as his guest. The invitation was to attend the opening performance of Venus, a play about her life by a famous Russian playwright . Members of the Bolshoi Ballet were cast along with Olympic Gold Medalist, Svetlana Khorkina, who played the title role.

External links

• Official site
• Twelve-Hours Official site