Robert Opel's fifteen minutes of fame came in a truly 1970s manner: during the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Opel streaked nude across the stage, flashing the peace sign as he jogged past host David Niven to the amusement of millions of television viewers. However, while that was the beginning and end of his career as a mainstream media celebrity, Opel had a rich and fascinating life before and after his famous streak. Opel was a performance artist, gallery owner, photographer, filmmaker, model and political gadfly who was ...
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Robert Opel's fifteen minutes of fame came in a truly 1970s manner: during the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Opel streaked nude across the stage, flashing the peace sign as he jogged past host David Niven to the amusement of millions of television viewers. However, while that was the beginning and end of his career as a mainstream media celebrity, Opel had a rich and fascinating life before and after his famous streak. Opel was a performance artist, gallery owner, photographer, filmmaker, model and political gadfly who was especially active in San Francisco's gay rights movement. In 1979, Opel was shot and killed in his gallery; while it was reported that the gunmen were thieves demanding money and drugs from Opel, many questioned the timing of the crime, as it came two weeks after he staged a highly controversial performance piece in which he enacted a mock assassination of city supervisor Dan White, who had confessed to killing mayor George Moscone and supervisor and gay activist Harvey Milk but was convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder. Robert Oppel is an actor and artist who is the nephew of the late Opel, and after learning about his briefly famous uncle as a child, he wanted to know more about his life and death. In the documentary Uncle Bob, Oppel looks into his uncle's life as an uncompromising artist and activist and tries to unravel the truth behind his murder. Uncle Bob was an official selection at the 2010 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. Mark Deming, Rovi
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