Writer, musician and film producer whose greatest claim to fame is in being one of the country's greatest practical jokers. Four years out of Ohio State University, Abel perpetrated his first major hoax in 1959 as the mastermind of the "Society for Indecency to Naked Animals" in which he persuaded actor Buck Henry to portray the president of the ...
His wife, Jeanne, was launched as a presidential candidate under the name "Yetta Bronstein." She promised to institute federally subsidized Bingo tournaments.
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Lured reporters to a fake interview with Watergate's famed "Deep Throat".
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Once was manager of a fictional "Topless String Quartet".
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Once sold advertising space on bald heads.
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Planted his own obitiuary in the January 2, 1980 issue of the New York Times.
$1.7 Million
