Biography for
Robert Opel More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 October 1939, New Jersey, USA

Date of Death

8 July 1979, San Francisco, California, USA (homicide by gunshot)

Nickname

The Streaker

Trivia

Opel is one of the most famous examples of 15 minutes of fame in history. During The 46th Annual Academy Awards (1974) (TV), just as David Niven was about to introduce Elizabeth Taylor, a naked Opel bolted across the stage. He was captured by security but instead of being arrested he was taken before the press.

Due to David Niven's nonchalant response to Opel's streaking incident many suspected that whole thing was stage managed by the producers in an effort to boost a dull program.

In the years following the streaking incident, he became something of an iconic symbol. He was put on talk shows now and then and several times he was hired by Beverly Hills socialites to streak at their friend's birthday parties.

After the attention from the Oscar stunt faded, the press generally paid him no mind until April of 1979 when he was found shot to death in his art gallery/sex paraphenalia shop in San Francisco. At first thought to have been a random robbery but when the killers were put on trial it was discovered that the men were actually drug dealers to whom he owed a great deal of money and that they had set up the robbery to look like a random crime. Despite the money that he had in his office, the killers only took $5, a camera and a backpack. They were all given life sentences in December of 1982.