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Paul Bartel (August 6, 1938 – May 13, 2000) was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an American actor, writer and director. Bartel was most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in and directed.

However, it was his groundbreaking short film, Secret Cinema, which has been most imitated, notably by the Peter Weir picture, The Truman Show ^[1] as well as having been referenced in several of David Lynch's films, particularly the self-reflexive Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE. According to Paul Bartel, Secret Cinema is about, "a young woman named Jane who begins to suspect that her boyfriend and her office associates are conspiring to make a film of her daily life that is being shown in a downtown theater on Saturday nights, for the cruel amusement of the in-crowd. She assumes at first that she must be suffering from paranoid delusions. But when she tries to discuss the problem with her shrink, she discovers that he is in fact the producer of the secret movie." ^[1]

Paul Bartel also appeared as an actor in several films. Some of his other well known cameos were in the 1975 cult film Death Race 2000, which he also directed, and the 1979 cult classic Rock 'n' Roll High School alongside Eating Raoul co-star Mary Woronov. Bartel made a short appearance in Tim Burton's short film Frankenweenie as Victor's science teacher.

Bartel directed ten movies, mostly low-budget comedies that he was hired to direct after the success of Eating Raoul. He sometimes contributed to the writing of these movies as well. A typical Bartel film of this period stars one or more "B-list" celebrities, includes modest sexual content (often presented ironically), a song and dance routine, and a cameo by Bartel himself.

He also made many guest appearances on TV shows. Bartel died May 13, 2000 of a heart attack, following liver cancer surgery two weeks prior.

• Shelf Life (1993)
• Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989)
• The Longshot (1986)
• Lust in the Dust (1985)
• Not for Publication (1984)
• Eating Raoul (1982)
• Cannonball! (1976)
• Death Race 2000 (1975)
• Private Parts (1972)
• The Secret Cinema (1968)

• Paul Bartel at the Internet Movie Database