Interesting Info: Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author.
Bernhard with fans at the Daryl Roth Theater NYC, April 2006.
Her big break came in 1983 when she was cast by Martin Scorsese to star as stalker and kidnapper Masha in the film The King of Comedy for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Moving to Scottsdale, Arizona in her early years, her initial comedy stage work in the 1970s was formulated around her “fish out of water” existence growing up as a “Jewess” amongst a sea of “blonde WASPs”.
She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy where she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures.
She demonstrated real hutzpah on camera after Martin Scorsese cast her as Masha, who loose cannon who stalks and covets a talk show host, in his film The King of Comedy starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis.
All of the CDs from “The Love Machine” through “Gems…” have been cheaply produced CD-Rs, which is commonly what comedians sell at their shows.
She appeared in 33 episodes between 1991 and 1997, and was one of the first actresses to portray an openly lesbian recurring character on American television.
Unmarried with a young daughter, Sandra is openly bisexual and currently living with a longtime companion, writer and PR executive Sara Switzer.
Developed a strong friendship with Madonna during the 1990s, and the two were frequently seen together in public.
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Around this time in her career, Bernhard developed a very close friendship with Madonna, and the two were frequently seen together in public.
She, along with other up-and-coming comics such as Robin Williams and Marsha Warfield, was cast as a regular player on “The Richard Pryor Show” , a musical variety show.
She was born in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of Jeanette and Jerome Bernhard.
She began performing her first one-woman show called I’m Your Woman in 1985, and an unsuccessful album version was released.
After graduating from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, she went to live on a kibbutz in Israel.
Bernhard appeared in a variety of small film and television roles throughout the 1980s while crafting her stand-up routine into a more performance art oriented show.
In 1996, she guest-starred on an episode of Highlander: The Series called “Dramatic License” in which she played a romance novelist writing about the life of the main character.
Her stand-up and one-woman shows continued to be popular, however, and in 1991 she released her first studio album, entitled Excuses For Bad Behavior.
During an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show she stated “I’m the only actress in Hollywood who didn’t pay to have these lips”.
Daughter Cicely Yasin was born in July of 1998.
The re-releases of both included special tracks, as well as several guests to help attract a new audience.
In all three she notoriously performed a ballad version of the Prince song Little Red Corvette; in the film she did a strip tease to Prince’s version.
Bernhard has often addressed her childhood in interviews and within the context of her stand-up comedy.
In 1991 she was cast as Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom “Roseanne” as one of the first actresses to portray an openly lesbian character on American series TV.
Undaunted, Bernhard continued to work on film and TV while crafting a more volatile, performance art-oriented show for shock effect.
Moving to Los Angeles at age 19, she paid her rent by working as a beauty salon manicurist to the stars as she tried to make a semi-name for herself in such L.A. haunts as “The Comedy Store.”
She managed to survive high school and went to live on a kibbutz in Israel for a period of time.
In June 2006, Bernhard appeared on the television program The View, and in a seven-minute segment, her commentary on race and politics incited two of the hosts to rage.
