From: adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Al Parker
Date: 28 Aug 1992 17:42:02 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu

In article <1992Aug28.214209.21708@spdcc.com> 
dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <l9t5b1INNhnu@mizar.usc.edu> 
> adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson) writes:
> >I asked him what was wrong,
> >and he pulled out a copy of Update (a gay paper), flipped to the
> >obituaries, and pointed out the obit for Al Parker.
>
> Huh?  When did THIS happen?

Yeah, I was pretty shocked myself.  Here's his obituary, written
by Harold Fairbanks, from the August 26, 1992 issue of _Update_:

Andrew Robert Okun
(Al Parker)

Former Hermosa Beach resident Drew Okun, known to many as Gay
erotic film superstar Al Parker, was 40 when he died of AIDS
complications on Aug. 17, 1992 at Mt. Zion Medical Center in
San Francisco.  Friends are invited to gather at the home he
shared with life companion Keith Reiter at 776 27th St. in 
San Francisco on Fri., Sept. 18 and Sat., Sept. 19, 2-8 p.m.
both days, and his art will also be exhibited.  His ashes
will be mixed with those of his late lover of 14 years, Richard
Cole (a.k.a. Steve Taylor), who died of AIDS in Sept. 1986,
and scattered in their favorite places.  Okun is also survived
by his father and sister, both in Boston, Mass.  Donations in
his memory to Rita Rockett Productions, 475 Dolores St. #11,
San Francisco, CA 94110, will be used to fun the ongoing Sunday
brunches for AIDS patients at San Francisco General Hospital,
a project in which he had been involved.

Born in Natick, Mass., Okun was already interested in men while
attending Natick High School.  But when his mother mentioned
they were holding some weekend rock concert over in New York
that might be worth seeing, the teen went to Woodstock, saw
the sea of scantily clad males in the audience, and the die
was cast.

Following graduation from high school, he studied pre-med at
Boston University in Boston, Mass., then went to New York City,
lived in Greenwich Village near Washington Square and attended
a film school.  Moving to Southern California, he worked at a 
gas station in Redondo Beach, at Hugh Hefner's Mansion in
Beverly Hills, and began modeling for Colt Studio under the
name Al Parker.

"I never chose it.  I hated it," he said in a later interview.
"It sounded very forgettable.  They assigned it to me, it went
into print, and suddenly I was Al.  I don't mind anymore, but I
do wonder what it stands for -- Alexander? Alan?"

In 1974, Okun was barely making a living on the earnings as a
model.  "I had lost my regular job and was told I needed to
earn $350 more to make me eligible for unemployment," he
recalled.  "So I went on 'Name That Tune,' a TV game show, and
won.  One of my prizes was a trip for two to New York City,
and I went with a girl I didn't know at all.  I met her on the 
beach.  I just walked up to her and asked if she wanted a free
trip to New York.  Anyway, it turned out she was bisexual.  I
had a great time, but (it made me decide) I was Gay, what I
wanted to be, and I didn't give a shit who knew it.  I wanted
to live my life for me."  Returning from the trip, he met Richard
Cole on the beach two days later, and they were together almost
14 years.

Thrughout the 1970s, Okun modeled and had a wallpaper removing
business, made the erotic loops "Challenger," "Chute," "Timber-
wolves I & II," "Hand Tooled," "Scout's Honor," "Weekend Lockup,"
"Rocks and Hard Places" and "Taxi" for Falcon, Colt, Brentwood
and Starline, as well as the features "Heavy Equipment," "The
Other Side of Aspen," "Inches" and "Wanted" for other producers.
He also worked as a crew member on Allan Carr's camp classic
"Can't Stop the Music" that starred the Village People.

By 1980, Okun's Al Parker persona was well-established in the
Gay erotic film industry, so he founded Surge Studios with
Cole and they sold photos and magazines out of their Hermosa
Beach home, branching out the next year into features for the
nationwide cicuit of theaters.  Okun starred in some of the
movies, and later confined his participation to writing,
producing and directing with cameo screen appearances, as Surge
Studios released "Flashback," "Turned On," "Games," "Dangerous,"
"A Few Good Men" (directed by the late Sal Grasso, a.k.a.
Steve Scott), and "A Night With Al Parker," "One in a Billion,"
"Rangers," "Head Trips," "Strange Places, Strange Things,"
"Hard Disc Drive," "Therapy," and "Century Mining."

When Richard Cole died in 1986, Okun sold the video rights
to the Surge catalog and retired from the business, quite
sure he didn't want to continue his film career.  "It was all
so sudden," he said in an interview.  "We had been together
almost 14 years.  On a Friday he was diagnosed with AIDS, and
four days later he died in my arms.  I suppose it was better
for him that it all happened so fast, but no amount of time
could have prepared me for it."

It left Okun stunned.  "At first, straightening out all the 
legal problems (of the jointly owned property) kept me busy,
and in a strange way helped me through the personal loss.
Friends were kind, always calling and inviting me to dinner
or to parties.  Mostly I didn't go, but fortunately they didn't
give up and kept calling.  Eventually I accepted an invitation.
Suddenly I had done something on my own without consulting
Richard.  I guess that moment was the beginning of my new life."

Okun moved to San Francisco in 1987, bought a three-story home
painted bright purple in the Diamond Heights area near the 
Castro District with close friend Keith Reiter, and having 
invested his early money in profitable real estate investments,
used the funds to revive Surge Studios.  A safe sex video he
had made for showing in Amsterdam was incorporated in the feature
"Turbo Charge" and he followed with the features "A Night Alone
With Al Parker," "Better Than Ever," "Very Receptive" and "Surge
Men at Their Best."

Drew Okun was a caring man, always willing to put himself on the
front lines to fight the AIDS epidemic.  He counter-picketed
the right-wing religious fundamentalists that showed up to
demonstrate against the AIDS Quilt exhibit at UCLA, presented
awards to other porno stars at the Gay Producers Association
of America ceremonies in Hollywood, was given a key to the city
of San Diego by Empress Nicole Murray in Jan. 1982, co-emceed
the International Mr. Leather contest in 1988 and was always
available to help at many AIDS benefits in both Southern 
California and the Bay Area.  He received a Cable Car Award for
a San Francisco fundraiser in 1991.

Much has been printed about his long and prolific porno career,
and even when he had his foreskin restored recently it provoked
comments of amazement from _San Francisco Chronicle_ columnist
Herb Caen, but Drew Okun and Al Parker were really two people
whose lives sometimes overlapped.

Okun, even before being diagnosed five years ago, was the man
who had visited every U.S. state and its capitol, been through
Europe several times, liked visiting Amsterdam, and was in Berlin
when the wall was torn down.  He painted and made wall constructions,
loved his new home with windows offering a view of the city and 
preferred spending his time there.

But as Al Parker, the man who had graced numerous magazine covers
and fueled thousands of Gay male fantasies with his films and
photos, he gave unstintingly of his time for AIDS causes.

The end came suddenly.  Although Okun hadn't been in the best of
health recently, he maintained himself and had worked out at the
gym a few days earlier.  He had promised to appear at the AIDS
Health Project benefit in San Francisco on Aug. 22.  After 
experiencing a night of distress, he was on his way to a doctor's
appointment the morning of Aug. 17 when he began failing and was
rushed to Mt. Zion Medical Center, where he passed away in their
emergency room.

As he said in a recent interview, "I'm not going to last a long
time.  I'd rather be remembered as being young, vibrant, good-
looking and active, than to be an 88 year old person and just
left over.  I don't think I want to hang around that long."