Joseph W. Sarno (March 15, 1921 – April 26, 2010) was an American film director and screenwriter. Sarno emerged from the proto-pornographic

sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sex ...

genre of the 1950s & 1960s; he had written and directed approximately 75 theatrically released feature films in the sexploitation, softcore and hardcore genres as well as a number of shot-on-video features for the 1980s hardcore video market.

Early life

Sarno was born in 1921 and grew up in Amityville on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

Career

Sarno, a pioneer of the sexploitation film genre, completed his first adult-oriented feature, '' Nude in Charcoal'', in 1961. Among his best-known films in the genre are ''Sin in the Suburbs'' (1964), which was about wife swapping, ''Flesh and Lace'', ''The Swap and How They Made It'' (1966), in which his wife appeared, and ''Moonlighting Wives'' (1966). Sarno's work of the sexploitation period was typified by stark chiaroscuro lighting, long takes, and rigorous staging. He was also well known for scenarios centering on issues of psycho-sexual anxiety and

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

development. During his sexploitation period, Sarno worked with such actors as Uta Erickson,

Dyanne Thorne Dyanne Thorne (October 14, 1936 – January 28, 2020) was an American actress, stage performer and vocalist. She was known for her stage work in Las Vegas and as the lead actress in the ''Ilsa'' film franchise which began with ''Ilsa, She Wolf ...

(star of the ''Ilsa'' series), Audrey Campbell (''Olga's House of Shame'' series), Michael Alaimo, Patricia McNair, Tod Moore, and his cousin, Joe Santos, who would become a regular on television's '' The Rockford Files''. Beginning in 1968, Sarno's work became somewhat more explicit, predicting the emergence of

soft-core Softcore pornography or softcore porn, is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. Soft ...

. His breakthrough feature '' Inga'' (1968) was one of the first X-rated films released in the United States. Other noteworthy soft-core features include ''All the Sins of Sodom'' (1968), ''Vibrations'' (1968), ''Passion in Hot Hollows'' (1969), ''Daddy, Darling'' (1970), ''Young Playthings'' (1972), ''Confessions of a Young American Housewife'' (1974, which was about foursomes), and ''Misty'' (1975). Sarno was also the director of ''

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'' (1974), the R-rated sequel to the hardcore classic '' Deep Throat''. After 1968, Sarno's soft-core work was divided between films produced in the United States and films produced in Europe, principally Sweden, Germany, and Denmark. Many of Sarno's European features were made with American backing. In Europe, he was known for having worked with actresses

Marie Liljedahl Marie Liljedahl (born 15 February 1950) is a Swedish actress who had a short-lived film career in the late-1960s and early-1970s, in the films of Joseph W. Sarno and Jesus Franco. Biography Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Liljedahl became a stage ac ...

Christina Lindberg Britt Christina Marinette Lindberg (born 6 December 1950) is a Swedish journalist known internationally for her work as an actress and glamour model in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Biography Lindberg grew up in a working-class home in Anned ...

, Helli Louise, and Marie Forså. Sarno's first hardcore feature was ''Sleepyhead'' (1973) featuring

Georgina Spelvin Shelley Bob Graham (born March 1, 1936), known professionally as Georgina Spelvin, is a former American actress and pornographic performer who is best known as the star of the classic 1973 pornographic film ''The Devil in Miss Jones'', released ...

and Tina Russell. Reluctant to be associated with the hardcore genre, Sarno began directing explicit films under various pseudonyms, like "Karl Andersson" in ''Touch of Genie'' (1974). He acknowledges being the uncredited director of such adult features as ''

Inside Jennifer Welles ''Inside Jennifer Welles'' is a 1977 pornographic film starring Jennifer Welles, an American porn star chiefly active in the soft and hardcore genres of the 1970s, although she began her acting career in the late 1960s in the sexploitation genre ...

'' (1977) starring Jennifer Welles and ''Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle'' (1981) starring

Annie Sprinkle Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing: Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, femi ...

. Over the course of his hardcore career, Sarno worked with such adult film stars as Harry Reems, Eric Edwards, Jamie Gillis, Marc Stevens,

Marlene Willoughby Marlene Willoughby is an American former actor, pornographic film actor, and model. Biography Willoughby was born in Detroit, Michigan and sang in the local church choir growing up. In 1961 she moved to New York with her mother and older sister ...

, Gloria Leonard, Sonny Landham, Seka, and Ron Jeremy.

Personal life and death

Sarno married Peggy Steffans, who was younger than he and was a non-sex performing actress and costumer in some of his films, and they had a son. Sarno died of natural causes on April 26, 2010 at the age of 89 in his native New York City.

Critical reputation

Singled out for praise by critic Andrew Sarris during the 1970s, Sarno's work has been acknowledged in recent years by tributes at the

New York Underground Film Festival The New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in New York City from 1994 through 2008 founded by filmmakers Todd Phillips (''Road Trip'', '' Old School'') and Andrew Gurland. After P ...

, the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, and The Andy Warhol Museum. Sarno has had a tribute at the British Film Institute in London and has given an honorary lecture at Lund University in Sweden. His career is being researched for a comprehensive biography by film historian Michael J. Bowen. Virgile Iscan interviewed Joe Sarno and his wife shortly before Sarno's death in 2010. The interviews appear in Iscan's documentary ''The Divine Joe Sarno''. ''A Life in Dirty Movies'' is a 2013 Swedish documentary about Sarno and his wife, and their attempt to make one last film.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Joe Sarno director credits
at the

AFDB The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies in ...

''A Life in Dirty Movies'' (2013)
at the IMDb {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarno, Joseph W. 1921 births 2010 deaths American male screenwriters Writers from New York City Film directors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state)