Ronald Tavel (May 17, 1936 – March 23, 2009) was an American gay screenwriter, director, novelist, poet and actor, best known for his work with Andy Warhol and The Factory and The Theatre of the Ridiculous.

He also wrote a novel about the pederastic experiences of an expatriate in Tangier Morocco called Street of Stairs published by Olympia Press in 1968.

Tavel worked with other members of Warhol's Factory crowd, including Freddie Herko, Ondine, Mary Woronov, Billy Name, Johnny Dodd and Brigid Berlin.

In 1975, Tavel was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Yale Divinity School for his contributions to formal theology and religious theater (notably, the Obie-Award-winning play Bigfoot).

In 1980, he was appointed the First Playwright-in-Residence at Cornell University where he was commissioned to write the melodrama, The Understudy, directed and designed by Michael Hillyer, which starred a young Jimmy Smits.