Sanford ‘Sandy’ Wernick, the talent manager and partner/senior executive VP at Brillstein Entertainment Partners, has died. He was 86.
A family representative tells Deadline that Wernick died on Thursday in Rancho Mirage, surrounded by family and loved ones, following a brief illness. Private services will be held in Palm Desert, followed by a memorial celebration in Los Angeles at a later date.
Beginning his career as a manager in the 1970s, his clients included Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Lorne Michaels, Jeff Ross, Colin Quinn, Rob Schneider and many more. A co-creator and executive producer of Def Comedy Jam, Wernick also helped package and produce shows like Saturday Night Live, The Muppet Show, The Sopranos, Just Shoot Me, Alf and The Goldbergs.
As Sandler’s manager, Wernick was an EP on his movies Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), Bulletproof (1996) and The Wedding Singer (1998).
In 2017, Sandler played a character inspired by Wernick in the Netflix film Sandy Wexler, about a talent manager hustling in 1994 Los Angeles, as he attempts to turn talented young singer Courtney (Jennifer Hudson) into a star. Wernick had a cameo in the movie.
Adam Sandler played a character inspired by Wernick in the 2017 Netflix film ‘Sandy Wexler’. (Glen Wilson/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Born March 22, 1939 in the Bronx, Wernick graduated from NYU and served in the Army from 1960 to 1962. He worked as an adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Peter Stark Producing Program, and he volunteered in the Cedars Sinai emergency room.
Wernick is survived by wife of 64 years, Barbara, daughter Michele, son Barry and daughter-in-law Jillian, as well as grandson Sammy, sister Joyce, brother-in-law Jules and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.