Bartel, Paul

▪ 2001

      American director, screenwriter, and actor (b. Aug. 6, 1938, Brooklyn, N.Y.—d. May 13, 2000, New York, N.Y.), was perhaps best remembered for creating and starring in the black comedy Eating Raoul (1982), a cult classic that featured Paul and Mary Bland, a married couple who murder swingers by beating them over the head with a frying pan before robbing them. Bartel's quirky humour was reflected in such car-crash films as Death Race 2000 (1975) and Cannonball (1976), the erotic shorts The Secret Cinema (1966) and Naughty Nurse (1969), and Private Parts (1972), his first feature film. He stole the show portraying a director bent on sensationalizing productions (“spice up the crucifixion scene”) in Joe Dante's Hollywood Boulevard (1976) and had bit parts in such films as The Usual Suspects (1995), Basquiat (1996), and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998). His last role was as Osric in an adaptation of Hamlet (2000).

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