“Confessions of History Filmmaker”
with Rick Beyer
Saturday, September 8, 2012- 8:00 PM
Lexington author and documentary filmmaker Rick Beyer will share insights, anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes adventures from a career in history and storytelling that has taken him from Buckman Tavern to Tunguska, Siberia. His presentation will be illustrated with numerous clips and outtakes from his work. Rick has made films for The History Channel, National Geographic, the Lexington Historical Society, and others. He is also the author of the popular Greatest Stories Never Told history series published by Harper Collins, and has shared his unique take on history in interviews on CNN, The Discovery Channel, NPR and Fox News.
Biography
Rick Beyer is a best-selling author, an award winning documentary producer, and a long-time history enthusiast. With a take on history that is both humorous and illuminating, he has appeared on CNN, The Discovery Channel, NPR and Fox News.
His newest book is The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 tales from music history to astonish, bewilder and stupefy. It is the fourth volume of his popular Greatest Stories history series. Previous titles include The Greatest Stories Never Told, The Greatest War Stories Never Told, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told, and The Greatest Science Stories Never Told. All are published by Harper Collins. The Chicago Tribune described the first book as “an old fashioned sweetshop full of tasty morsels,” and the Army Times said of the second book: “Just when you thought you knew everything about everything, along comes Rick Beyer to prove you wrong.” Rick is also the author of the autobiographical non-fiction story “A Plate of Peas” which has been published in I Thought My Father Was God and several other short story collections.
He has produced films for The History Channel, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Historic Mount Vernon and others. His documentary credits include The Wright Challenge, Secrets of Jamestown, The Patent Files and Timelab 2000, an acclaimed collection of 200 history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston. He is currently working on an independent film entitled The Ghost Army, a World War II story of deception, art, and showmanship.
A seasoned speaker who has engaged numerous audiences, Rick’s topics include Getting to Eureka!, Adventures in History Filmmaking, and Rick’s Rules of History. His presentations are spiked with humor, creative visuals and quirky props. They have proven popular at conferences, corporations, universities, libraries and other venues. Recent audiences (Fall 2010) include cardio-vascular inventors and IP attorneys at Medtronic.
Rick has written for Politico, the History Channel Magazine, The Boston Globe, and other publications. He has also worked as a radio reporter, a TV news producer, an ad agency creative director, and a janitor (not in that order). And here’s a few other things he’s done.
•Camp for ten days in the mosquito-infested Siberian Wilderness
•Flee New Orleans the day before Katrina
•Interview Jimmy Carter in the White House
•Climb Mt. Washington 5 times
•Get called stupid by David Brinkley
•Be consoled by Mary Tyler Moore
•Marry a beautiful woman during a lightning storm
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Rick currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with his wife (see above.). He can occasionally be found in colonial attire giving tours of historic Buckman Tavern on Lexington Green.
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