Hired as the cameraman on Gimme Shelter, the Albert and David Maysles film of The Rolling Stones 1969 American Tour, Baird caught on camera the fatal stabbing of concertgoer Meredith Hunter by Hells Angels member Alan Passaro at the Altamont Free Concert in December 1969.
[1] Born in Columbus, Indiana, his parents were Dr. William Bryant, a surgeon, and Daisy née Mortimer.
[2] Bryant attended Deep Springs College in Big Pine, California, and graduated from Harvard University.
[1] He began his filmmaking career in the early 1960s shooting The Seducers (1962), Greenwich Village Story (1963), The Cool World (1963) and Celebration at Big Sur (1971).
[1] Bryant worked on Easy Rider in late February 1968 as part of the first crew that was hastily assembled to cover Mardi Gras in New Orleans with several 16 mm film hand-held cameras.