Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) appeared in a recurring role as Nancy Bartlett, a girlfriend of Arnie Thomas (played by Tom Arnold, the onetime husband of Roseanne Barr, the show's star), one of Dan's poker playing buddies on Roseanne. A gifted and funny comedienne and actress, Sandra is well-known for, amongst other accomplishments, her 1990 one-woman off-Broadway show, Without You I'm Nothing and her role as Nancy Bartlett on Roseanne.
Early life[]
Bernhard has often addressed her childhood in interviews and within the context of her stand-up comedy.Born in Flint, MI, the daughter of Jeanette and Jerome Bernhard, Sandra has three older brothers. Her family moved to Scottsdale, AZ, when she was 10.[1]
Of her Jewish family, Bernhard stated in her show Without You I'm Nothing:
"My father was a proctologist, and my mother was an abstract artist, so that's how I view the world."
In the documentary program Girls Who Do: Comedy, she discusses being a funny teenager. After graduating from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, she went to live and volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel. She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19. During that time she made ends meet working as a manicurist in a high-end salon.
Career[]
Bernhard became a popular staple at the Comedy Store. As her popularity as a comedienne grew she was cast as a supporting player on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977. Guest appearances on evening talk shows followed. 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.
Sandra began performing her first one-woman show called I'm Your Woman in 1985, and an album version was released. Bernhard appeared in a variety of tiny film and television roles throughout the 1980s while crafting her stand-up routine into a more performance art oriented show. She launched an Off Broadway one woman show called Without You I'm Nothing, With You I'm Not Much Better in 1988 which played at the Orpheum Theatre. In 1990 it was turned into a film and a double album of the same name. The film was mostly shot on location in 1989 in the Cocoanut Grove located in the Ambassador Hotel. A frequent guest on David Letterman's NBC program, it was during the run of Without You I'm Nothing, With You I'm Not Much Better that she appeared with her then good friend (and rumored lover) Madonna on the show. The two alluded to their romantic relationship and staged a sexy confrontation. They would continue to be friends for several years, with Bernhard even making an appearance in Madonna's movie Truth or Dare.
In 1985, she appeared in Follow That Bird as the Grouch Waitress at the Don't Drop Inn.
Among Sandra's many other TV and film credits are guest spots on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the 1987 comedy/crune film Dragnet, with Dan Akroyd and Tom Hanks, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also has done voice work on American Dad!, Superman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the 1983 film The King of Comedy with film co-stars Jerry Lewis and Robert DeNiro.
Since 2015, she began hosting the radio show called Sandyland on Sirius XM's, Radio Andy.
References[]
External links[]
- Official website
- Sandra Bernhard at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
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