The Oscars streaker who became too political
Naked on the Oscars stage, shot dead in his gallery: the short, wild life of Robert Opel.
On 2 April 1974, Hollywood experienced probably the most unplanned moment in Oscars history. At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, David Niven was just about to introduce Elizabeth Taylor, who was to present the award for best picture. Then a man sprinted across the stage. He wore a moustache and nothing else, and flashed the peace sign. Niven quickly recovered and quipped about the "shortcomings" the man had just displayed. The audience laughed.
The streaker was Robert Opel, a photographer and activist. Instead of being thrown out, he was allowed to speak to the press. Nobody needed to be ashamed of being naked, he declared. Opel loved men and women alike and had supplied photos to the gay magazine "The Advocate". He had once even written speeches for Ronald Reagan's campaign before turning his back on the Republicans.
The Oscars appearance was not his only one. At Los Angeles City Council, he protested naked against a ban on nudity and ended up in jail for it. Later he ran for the White House as a nudist. In San Francisco he opened Fey-Way Studios, one of the first galleries for homoerotic art, with works by Tom of Finland and Robert Mapplethorpe.
After the murder of Harvey Milk, Opel became even more political. The lenient sentence for the killer, Dan White, outraged him. At the 1979 Gay Freedom Day Parade, he appeared as "Gay Justice" and "executed" a White lookalike with a toy gun.
Shortly afterwards he was dead. In July 1979, two men broke into his gallery, demanded money and drugs and shot him. Officially a robbery. Some friends never believed it. What remained of the most famous streaker in Oscars history was a myth and an open question.