Barry Sandler (born February 23, 1947 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

) is an American screenwriter and film producer. His career has spanned several decades, with the 1980s being his most prolific. The openly gay Sandler is perhaps best known for writing the 1982 film ''

Making Love ''Making Love'' is a 1982 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean. The film tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that devel ...

'', the first mainstream Hollywood film to deal seriously with issues of homosexuality and

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

.. Sandler discussed ''Making Love'' in the 1995 documentary film ''

The Celluloid Closet ''The Celluloid Closet'' is a 1995 American documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. The film is based on Vito Russo's 1981 book ''The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies'', and on lecture and film clip ...

''. In addition to his successful writing career, Sandler also teaches screenwriting at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

and serves as one Artistic Director to

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

, a gay and lesbian film festival in Los Angeles. He is the recipient of the

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

and the

2002 Gay Pioneer Award for Courage and Artistry, and was named by

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

as one of the most influential gay artists in America..

Filmography

Writer

* ''

Kansas City Bomber ''Kansas City Bomber'' is a 1972 American sports drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Jerrold Freedman and starring Raquel Welch. It also marks one of the earliest film appearances of Jodie Foster. Plot The film is an ins ...

'' – 1972 * '' The Loners'' – 1972 * ''

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox ''The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox'' is a 1976 American Western romantic comedy film starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal, produced, directed and co-written by Melvin Frank. It is about an 1880s dance hall girl (Hawn) from San Francisco who st ...

'' – 1976 * ''

Gable and Lombard ''Gable and Lombard'' is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Sidney J. Furie. The screenplay by Barry Sandler is based on the romance and consequent marriage of screen stars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The original music score w ...

'' – 1976 * ''

The Other Side of Midnight ''The Other Side of Midnight'' is a novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon published in 1973. The book reached No. 1 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. It was made into a 1977 film, and followed by a sequel written by Sheldon tit ...

'' – 1977 (uncredited) * ''

The Mirror Crack'd ''The Mirror Crack'd'' is a 1980 British mystery film directed by Guy Hamilton from a screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'' (1962). It stars Angel ...

'' – 1980 * '' Evil Under the Sun'' – 1982 (uncredited) * ''

'' – 1982 * ''

Crimes of Passion A crime of passion (French: ''crime passionnel''), in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially homicide, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as anger rather than as a premed ...

'' – 1984 * ''

All-American Murder ''All-American Murder'' is a 1991 American direct-to-video thriller film directed by Anson Williams and starring Christopher Walken and Charlie Schlatter. It was released on December 18, 1991, in UK. Premise Artie Logan (Schlatter) is the new ...

'' – 1992 * ' – 2003 * '' Knock ‘em Dead'' – 2014

Producer

* ''Making Love'' – 1982 (associate producer) * ''Crimes of Passion'' – 1984 * ''All-American Murder'' – 1992 (co-producer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandler, Barry 1947 births Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters American gay writers American LGBT screenwriters LGBT people from New York (state) Living people Writers from Buffalo, New York University of Central Florida faculty Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Florida 21st-century American LGBT people