Robert Opel (

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Oppel; October 23, 1939 – July 7, 1979) was an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

owner most famous for

streaking Streaking is the act of running naked through a public area for publicity, for fun, as a prank, a dare, a form of protest, or to participate in a fad. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Str ...

during the

46th Academy Awards The 46th Academy Awards were presented on Tuesday, April 2, 1974, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston, and David Niven. ''The Sting'' won 7 a ...

in 1974.

Early life and education

Opel was born in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

, in 1939. As a child, he lived in Canada,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

before his family settled in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, where he attended grade school, high school, and college. Born Robert Oppel, he dropped the second "p" from his name after becoming an activist to distance himself from his family in Pittsburgh. Opel was concerned his activities would cause the family embarrassment. In college, Opel was elected to Student Congress, and served as chairman of a regional debate team.

Career

After graduation, he worked as a speechwriter for then-

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. In 1974, Opel taught English as a second language for the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

. He was fired from that job following the Oscars incident. Opel owned his own photography business, Ideas Photographic. Among his clients were the LGBT publication ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' and ''Finger'' magazine, where he was also an editor. In 1976, he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Presidency, using the slogans "Nothing to Hide" and "Not Just Another Crooked Dick", referring to the streaking incident and President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, respectively (Nixon had resigned from office in disgrace in 1974). In March 1978, Opel opened Fey-Way Studios, a gallery of gay male art, at 1287 Howard Street in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

."Robert Opel's Fey-Way Studios"
. Retrieved 12 June 2007. The gallery helped bring such erotic gay artists as

Tom of Finland Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), known by the pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized erotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "mos ...

and

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...

to national attention and showed others, such as Dom Orejudos,

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...

Bill Schmeling Bill Schmeling (April 30, 1938 – September 12, 2019), better known by his pen name The Hun, was an American artist active in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, known for his explicit, homoerotic fetish illustrations and comics. ...

, Al Shapiro,

Chuck Arnett Charles "Chuck" Arnett (February 15, 1928March 2, 1988) was an American artist and dancer who was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and died in San Francisco. His best-known work is the The Tool Box (bar), Tool Box mural (1962). Biography Arnett gr ...

Olaf Odegaard Olaf Odegaard (December 15, 1938 – December 25, 1997), better known by his pen name Olaf, was an American artist and playwright active in the latter half of the twentieth century, known for his homoerotic illustrations. Olaf's art explores the ...

, and Rex. In 1979, he was in a relationship with Camille O'Grady, till his death the same year.

Streaking incident at the 1974 Oscars

On April 2, 1974, Opel apparently posed as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

to gain entry to the stage at the

at the

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...

in Los Angeles. He ran naked past

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academ ...

flashing a

peace sign A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph ...

while Niven was introducing

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

. After breaking into laughter momentarily, Niven regained his composure, 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., as a stunt. Robert Metzler, the show's business manager, believed that the incident had been planned in some way. He said that, 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 background curtain in order to reach the stage.

Death

Opel was hosting friends at his studio on July 7, 1979, when two armed men, Robert E. Kelly and Maurice Keenan, stormed the studio in an attempted robbery. They demanded drugs and money; Opel denied he had the former and proceeded to kick them out. Opel was shot at close range and was pronounced dead at 10:40 p.m. He was 39 years old."PEOPLE v. KELLY (1986) 183 CA3d 1235"
, Court of Appeals of California, First Appellate District, Division Three, July 31, 1986. Retrieved 12 June 2007. Kelly was sentenced to 25 years to life. Keenan was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. As of 2025, Keenan is still serving his life sentence for the murder.

Legacy

The 2010 biographical documentary ''Uncle Bob'' was produced and directed by Opel's nephew, Robert Oppel. In addition to narration and reenactments by Oppel, the film includes interviews with

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

Divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

Daniel Nicoletta Daniel Nicoletta (born December 23, 1954) is an Italian-American photographer, photojournalist and gay rights activist. Biography Daniel Nicoletta was born in New York City and raised in Utica, New York. In his late teens he left New York to at ...

, Mark Thompson,

Jack Fritscher John Joseph Fritscher (born June 20, 1939) is an American author, university professor, historian, and social activist known internationally for his fiction, erotica, and nonfiction analyses of pop culture and gay male culture. An activist prio ...

, and others. Oppel attempted to interview the two men serving life in prison for his uncle's murder, but was denied by

Pelican Bay State Prison Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison in Crescent City, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about to the west. Facilities The prison is located in a detached section of Crescent Cit ...

. Robert Oppel and curator Rick Castro installed "Robert Opel: The Res-erection of Fey-Way Studios", a 2014 art show at Antebellum Gallery in Los Angeles, featuring original artworks, posters, and memorabilia from Fey-Way circa 1978–1979. Opel was honored as part of the 2017

San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art that honor the history of gay and lesbian leather culture in South of Market, San Francisco. The art is embedded in Ringold Street, an alley between 8th and 9t ...

, named on a bronze bootprint. His streaking was commemorated 50 years later during the

96th Academy Awards The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonl ...

when

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

presented the award for Best Costume Design naked and covered only by the envelope.

References

Biography from Matt & Andrej KoymaskyDavid Niven
at the

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

(contains above version of Niven's quote)
"Biron on Robert Opel and other artists"
Interview by Philip Vincent, San Francisco, 1996. Retrieved 12 June 2007. * ''The Gay Book of Lists'', By Leigh W. Rutledge, 2003,
Google books link

External links

* *Documentary film

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Opel, Robert 1939 births 1979 deaths People murdered in 1979 20th-century American artists 20th-century American LGBTQ people American LGBTQ photographers American murder victims Art gallery owners Artists from Pittsburgh Artists from San Francisco Bisexual artists Deaths by firearm in San Francisco Educators from California Educators from New Jersey Educators from Pennsylvania LGBTQ people from California Artists from East Orange, New Jersey People murdered in San Francisco Photographers from California Streakers