Almost 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.
At the forty sixth Academy Awards almost 50 years in the past, late actor Niven was about to introduce Taylor to the stage to current the Best Picture winner.
It’s seemingly no-one might keep 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 as 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 as the viewers erupted into suits of laughter.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen,” Nivan quipped after recovering from the shock.
Award present second that modifications star’s profession perpetually
“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?”
Opel disappeared off the stage and the Oscar ceremony shortly returned to commonly scheduled programming.
Nivan then did his job and at last launched the Cleopatra actress to the stage, who made her personal wisecrack about the streaker.
“That’s a pretty hard act to follow,” she laughed, earlier than presenting the closing award of the night time.
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Actress Pam Grier had the activity of being an “Oscar guardian” backstage and recalled Taylor’s response to the streaker to The Philadelphia Enquirer.
“When the streaker went across the stage, she just started laughing,” Grier stated,
Instead of being taken to a jail cell for trespassing, Opel ended up in the press room.
There, wearing a blue jumpsuit, he recognized himself as Robert Opel (his surname was really spelt Oppel, however he dropped the second P as to not embarrass his household).
“It just occurred to me that it might be an educative thing to do,” he informed reporters.
“You know, people shouldn’t be ashamed of being nude in public. Besides, it’s a hell of a way to launch a career.”
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It remained unclear precisely why Opel had determined to run bare throughout the stage at Hollywood’s night time of nights.
However, it was later revealed he snuck backstage by pretending to be a journalist.
Theories emerged that the streaker was an organised stunt, significantly given how fast Niven was to think about a punchline in response.
There was even a hearsay the Oscar writers had pre-written the line in the occasion of a streak.
But Niven’s son Jamie disagreed. “No, no. That was spontaneous,” he informed The New York Times in February 2023.
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Opel himself turned an on the spot superstar, showing on The Mike Douglas Show the day after his streak.
“Was this a setup?” Douglas requested him on the present. “The press keeps asking that,” Opel responded. “Nobody believes that it wasn’t a set-up.”
You know, folks should not be ashamed of being nude in public. Besides, it is a hell of a solution to launch a profession.
“I thought it was very interesting that Elizabeth Taylor could be flustered by the sight of a nude man in any context,” Opel additionally informed homosexual newspaper, the Advocate.
It appeared Opel’s nudity was an act of protest or social activism, nevertheless the precise purpose might by no means be recognized. “It was a social comment,” Opel’s nephew, Robert Oppel, informed EW in 2018.
However, 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 condo, 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 demise, nevertheless it was later commuted to life in jail, and Kelly was sentenced to 25 years to life.
His life might have resulted in tragedy, but Opel’s daring stunt at the Oscars is remembered largely with fondness – it and was actually considered one of the Academy’s strangest moments in its 95-year historical past.
“Robert was dream fulfilment to Oscar viewers,” Jack Fritscher, buddy and editor at the San Francisco newspaper Drummer, informed the NYT.
“Every year, his memory puts an edge of suspense on the Oscars, like a promise that something unscripted and exciting and sexy might happen.”
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