Virtually each Academy Awards night has a memorable second – In 2022 it was the notorious Oscars slap and again in 2014 it was the superstar “selfie”.
Half a century in the past in 1974, nevertheless, it was an unlikely scandal involving movie legend Elizabeth Taylor, actor David Nivan and a ballsy streaker.
On the forty sixth Academy Awards practically 50 years in the past, late actor Niven was about to introduce Taylor to the stage to current the Greatest Image winner.
It is seemingly no-one might bear in mind the winner of that exact Oscar (it was The Sting) as a result of a unadorned man storming the stage stole the world’s consideration.
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Watch the video above.
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Nivan was as stunned because the viewers when 33-year-old Robert Opel emerged from backstage, buck-naked and flashing the peace signal.
The shocked host was surprised into silence for a number of moments because the viewers erupted into matches of laughter.
“Nicely, girls and gents, that was virtually sure to occur,” Nivan quipped after recovering from the shock.
Award present second that adjustments star’s profession without end
“However is not it fascinating to assume that most likely the one snicker that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and displaying his shortcomings?”
Opel disappeared off the stage and the Oscar ceremony shortly returned to often scheduled programming.
Nivan then did his job and eventually launched the Cleopatra actress to the stage, who made her personal wisecrack in regards to the streaker.
“That is a reasonably onerous act to comply with,” she laughed, earlier than presenting the ultimate award of the evening.
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Actress Pam Grier had the duty of being an “Oscar guardian” backstage and recalled Taylor’s response to the streaker to The Philadelphia Enquirer.
“When the streaker went throughout the stage, she simply began laughing,” Grier mentioned,
As a substitute of being taken to a jail cell for trespassing, Opel ended up within the press room.
There, wearing a blue jumpsuit, he recognized himself as Robert Opel (his surname was truly spelt Oppel, however he dropped the second P as to not embarrass his household).
“It simply occurred to me that it may be an educative factor to do,” he instructed reporters.
“You understand, folks should not be ashamed of being nude in public. Moreover, it is a hell of a approach to launch a profession.”
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It remained unclear precisely why Opel had determined to run bare throughout the stage at Hollywood’s evening of nights.
Nevertheless, it was later revealed he snuck backstage by pretending to be a journalist.
Theories emerged that the streaker was an organised stunt, notably given how fast Niven was to think about a punchline in response.
There was even a hearsay the Oscar writers had pre-written the road within the occasion of a streak.
However Niven’s son Jamie disagreed. “No, no. That was spontaneous,” he instructed The New York Occasions in February 2023.
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Opel himself turned an prompt superstar, showing on The Mike Douglas Present the day after his streak.
“Was this a setup?” Douglas requested him on the present. “The press retains asking that,” Opel responded. “No person believes that it wasn’t a set-up.”
You understand, folks should not be ashamed of being nude in public. Moreover, it is a hell of a approach to launch a profession.
“I assumed it was very attention-grabbing that Elizabeth Taylor might be flustered by the sight of a nude man in any context,” Opel additionally instructed homosexual newspaper, the Advocate.
It appeared Opel’s nudity was an act of protest or social activism, nevertheless the precise purpose could by no means be recognized. “It was a social remark,” Opel’s nephew, Robert Oppel, instructed EW in 2018.
Nevertheless, Opel’s fame and activism ambitions had been short-lived. Tragically, simply 5 years later in 1979, he was murdered throughout an tried theft at his dwelling in San Francisco.
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The burglars had burst into his studio house, demanding medication and cash. When he refused, they fatally shot him.
The killers had been recognized as Maurice Keenan and Robert Kelly. Keenan was sentenced to loss of life, nevertheless it was later commuted to life in jail, and Kelly was sentenced to 25 years to life.
His life could have led to tragedy, but Opel’s daring stunt on the Oscars is remembered principally with fondness – it and was actually one of many Academy’s strangest moments in its 95-year historical past.
“Robert was dream fulfilment to Oscar viewers,” Jack Fritscher, pal and editor on the San Francisco newspaper Drummer, instructed the NYT.
“Yearly, his reminiscence places an fringe of suspense on the Oscars, like a promise that one thing unscripted and thrilling and attractive would possibly occur.”
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