Sal Piro

1950-06-29 · Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Salvatore Francis Martin Piro was an American actor who was the president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, a position he held from 1977 until his death. He attended Seton Hall University, but did not receive a degree. In the mid-1970s, he served as a theology teacher and theater director at Catholic schools throughout New Jersey. Piro was a part of the original Waverly Theatre audience of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, from which the unique audience participation elements and much of the cult following were born. This following has become a worldwide phenomenon. He appeared as himself in Fame (1980) as well as a number of documentaries, and had a silent cameo as a man using a payphone in the Rocky Horror pseudo-sequel Shock Treatment (1981); he also appeared as The Photographer in The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016). Piro died from an aneurysm at his home in Manhattan on January 22, 2023, at the age of 72.