[1] Sarno's work of the sexploitation period was typified by stark chiaroscuro lighting, long takes, and rigorous staging.
[citation needed] During his sexploitation period, Sarno worked with such actors as Uta Erickson, Dyanne Thorne (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.
Reluctant to be associated with the hardcore genre, Sarno began directing explicit films under various pseudonyms, like "Karl Andersson" in Touch of Genie (1974).
Over the course of his hardcore career, Sarno worked with such adult film stars as Harry Reems, Eric Edwards, Jamie Gillis, Marc Stevens, Rick Savage, Marlene Willoughby, Gloria Leonard, Sonny Landham, Seka,[2] and Ron Jeremy.
[1] 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 Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, and The Andy Warhol Museum.
[citation needed] Sarno has had a tribute at the British Film Institute in London and has given an honorary lecture at Lund University in Sweden.