Paul Sand

Background

Sand was born Pablo Sanchez in Santa Monica, California, the son of Sonia (née Borodiansky), a writer, and Ernest Rivera Sanchez, an aerospace tool designer. His father was Mexican and his mother of Russian descent.

Career

At the age of 11, he started at Viola Spolin's Children's Theatre Company. From here, he attended Los Angeles State College before moving to Paris aged 18. In Paris, Sand met one of his heroes, Marcel Marceau, who was so impressed by his talents that he asked Sand to join his touring mime troupe.

In 1960, along with Alan Arkin and others, Sand was a cast member of The Second City improvisational comedy troupe in Chicago. In 1966 he co-starred with Linda Lavin and Jo Ann Worley in the off-Broadway hit production The Mad Show, inspired by Mad Magazine. Sand's film credits include The Hot Rock, The Second Coming of Suzanne (in which he had a sex scene with Sondra Locke), and The Main Event.

In 1974-75, he was the star of a short-lived CBS situation comedy, Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers, in which he portrayed a double bass player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra who fell in love easily but had little success with women. Fifteen episodes of the show were filmed.

Awards

In 1971 he received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his work on Broadway in Paul Sills' Story Theatre and two Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Performances on Broadway in Story Theatre and Metamorphosis."