Robert Opel
Encyclopedia
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
owner most famous as the man who streaked
Streaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
during the 46th Academy Awards
46th Academy Awards
The 46th Academy Awards were presented April 2, 1974 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by John Huston, Diana Ross, Burt Reynolds, David Niven....
in 1974. He sneaked backstage posing as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
(he had worked as a photographer for the well-known LGBT publication The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, shortly before) and ran naked past David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
flashing a peace sign while Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
.
Unfazed, Niven turned to the audience and quipped, "Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen... But isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?" Later, some evidence arose suggesting that Opel's appearance was facilitated by the show's producer Jack Haley, Jr.
Jack Haley, Jr.
Jack Haley, Jr was an American film director, producer and writer, twice winner of the Emmy Award.Haley was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Jack Haley and his wife Florence...
as a stunt. Robert Metzler, the show's business manager, believed that the incident had been planned in some way. During the dress rehearsal, Niven had asked Metzler's wife to borrow a pen so he could write down the famous ad-lib. Opel apparently had to cut through an expensive seamless background curtain in order to reach the stage.
The episode made Opel something of a celebrity. Producer Allan Carr
Allan Carr
Allan Carr was an American producer and manager of stage and screen. Carr was nominated for numerous awards, winning a Tony Award and two People's Choice Awards, and was named Producer of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners.-Early career:Born Allan Solomon in Chicago, Illinois,...
even asked him to streak at a party for Rudolph Nureyev.
In March 1978, Opel opened "Fey-Way Studios", a gallery of gay male art, at 1287 Howard Street in San Francisco. The gallery helped bring such erotic gay artists as Tom of Finland
Tom of Finland
Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized androerotic and fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W...
and Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
to national attention. Opel was murdered on the night of July 7, 1979, during a robbery of the studio, by Robert E. Kelly and Maurice Keenan.