Warhol Superstar Ondine was born on June 16, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. His birth name was Robert Olivo. His stage name “Ondine” is a mix of his last name with the word “undine,” which is a water spirit.
Ondine met Andy Warhol at an orgy in the early sixties, where he became upset that Warhol was not participating. He had Warhol thrown out of the orgy, not being aware of who the artist was. He is quoted on the encounter in “The Warholstars Chronology”: “I was at an orgy, and he [Warhol] was, ah, this great presence in the back of the room. And this orgy was run by a friend of mine, and, so, I said to this person, ‘Would you please mind throwing that thing [Warhol] out of here?’ And that thing was thrown out of there, and when he came up to me the next time, he said to me, ‘Nobody has ever thrown me out of a party.’ He said, ‘You know? Don’t you know who I am?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t give a good flying [care] who you are. You just weren’t there. You weren’t involved…'”
As an actor, Ondine would go on to star in a fair amount of Warhol’s films, including Imitation of Christ, Batman Dracula, Vinyl and finally The Loves of Ondine in 1968.
Ondine was eventually kicked out of The Factory due to his temper. He eventually kicked his addiction to speed and began making a small career out of speaking at colleges and showing his Warhol films, sharing stories of his days at The Factory. Ondine died of liver disease in Queens, New York, in 1989 at the age of 52.
