BERNHARDT ENGEL

Amazon has an extensive bio on this author. Part of it is: "Growing up in Hollywood, CA, the only child of a single parent, my imagination was a way out of the reality of a mother working as a waitress just to make ends meet.

To avoid a potential problem of a latchkey son on his own for many hours of the day--this being Hollywood--my mother sent me to professional acting workshops to keep me off the streets after school. Actor training meant the opportunity to be something other than what I was in reality. The die was cast--no turning back.

Graduated from Hollywood High School; a drama major, of course. For those of you who might not know, the Hollywood High campus is located in the heart of Hollywood, between Sunset Blvd., and Hollywood Blvd., on Highland Ave.--just two blocks from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Chinese Theatre (Grauman's, at the time), recently expanded to include the Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars are now held.

After high school, my father, a business man, insisted I go to an eastern college for a 'real' education--an offer my mother couldn't refuse. A freshman from Hollywood, and professionally trained as an actor, I found a home in the drama department in a small eastern liberal arts college. But I had no interest, nor scholarly discipline for required general education courses. Toward the end of my sophomore year, the Dean called me into his office. His advice was to make a life for myself elsewhere.

Nineteen, and kicked out of college, I was no longer protected from the draft with the college deferment. Calculating this new reality, I decided to break away from it all--away from college, away from parents and family, and away from my failed self.

Because I didn't much care for the idea of eating spam from a can, and sleeping in a muddy foxhole in Korea, I joined the Navy--which meant four years of service instead of two in the Army."