Ryan O’Neal’s Children Pay Tribute Following the Actor’s Death at Age 82
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1941-2023
Latest News: Ryan O’Neal Dies at Age 82
Actor Ryan O’Neal died December 8 at age 82, his son Patrick confirmed in an Instagram post. O’Neal died “peacefully,” according to Patrick. “I’ll miss you dad. I love you. We love you,” he wrote.
A location or cause of death weren’t given for O’Neal, the star of the 1970 movie Love Story. The actor was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012.
O’Neal’s daughter Tatum also paid tribute with a similar Instagram video and photo collage. “You’ll forever be in my heart,” she wrote. “Keep each other close, everyone. Life is a journey.”
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Who Was Ryan O'Neal?
Actor Ryan O’Neal was best known for his starring role in Love Story, which earned him an 1970 Oscar nomination. An amateur boxer before getting into acting, O’Neal got his break in the 1960s soap opera Peyton Place. He later acted in a host of movies, including Barry Lyndon, Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc?, and The Main Event, the latter two co-starring Barbra Streisand. In his personal life, O’Neal faced several controversies, including the scandalous start to his long-term relationship with actor Farrah Fawcett and abuse allegations by his daughter, actor Tatum O’Neal. He died in December 2023 at age 82.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Charles Patrick Ryan O’Neal
BORN: April 20, 1941
DIED: December 8, 2023
BIRTHPLACE: Los Angeles, California
SPOUSES: Joanna Moore (1963-1967) and Leigh Taylor-Young (1967-1974)
CHILDREN: Tatum O’Neal, Griffin O’Neal, Patrick O’Neal, and Redmond O’Neal
Early Life
Charles Patrick Ryan O’Neal—better known was Ryan O’Neal—was born on April 20, 1941, in Los Angeles. He was born into show business as the son of writer Charles “Blackie” O’Neal and actor Patricia Callaghan.
Determined to follow his own path, Ryan trained to become a professional boxer, competing in two Golden Gloves championships in Los Angeles in 1956 and 1957. He had an impressive amateur fighting record: 18 wins to 4 losses, with 13 knockouts.
In the late 1950s, Ryan and his family moved to Germany for his father’s job writing broadcasts for Radio Free Europe. Ryan finished up his schooling at the Munich American High School, graduating in 1959.
His parents helped him land his first job in the entertainment industry as a stuntman on the German television series Tales of the Vikings, which his parents were working on.
Acting Career
O’Neal returned to the United States to try his luck in Hollywood. In 1962, he landed a supporting role in the television western Empire. The show only lasted a season, but more parts soon followed. O’Neal made guest appearances on such shows as The Virginian, Perry Mason, and Wagon Train before getting a role on the groundbreaking prime-time soap opera Peyton Place in 1964.
Peyton Place, based on the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, explored the darker side of several families living in a suburban New England town. It was a huge hit with television audiences, and its popularity helped launch O’Neal’s career and the career of cast member Mia Farrow.
After Peyton Place ended in 1969, O’Neal moved on to movies. He landed the lead in 1969’s The Big Bounce, starring opposite his then-wife Leigh Taylor-Young in a film adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard. It proved to be a box-office disappointment, but his next effort, 1970’s Love Story, turned out to be a great success. He played Oliver Barrett IV, beating out 300 other performers for the role. O’Neal starred opposite Ali MacGraw in this romantic tearjerker about a young man who turns his back on his wealth to marry the woman he loves, only to lose her to a terminal illness. For his work on the movie, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Turning to comedy, O’Neal starred opposite Barbra Streisand in What’s Up Doc? (1971). He then played a grifter working con games with his daughter—played by his real-life daughter, Tatum O’Neal—in the critically acclaimed hit Paper Moon (1973). Tatum won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.
While his daughter’s career appeared to be heating up, Ryan experienced several flops, including Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 historical drama Barry Lyndon and 1978’s Oliver’s Story, a sequel to Love Story. He also had a series of missed opportunities, having been considered and rejected for lead roles in The Godfather and Rocky. In 1979, O’Neal scored a box-office win with The Main Event, starring again with Streisand in this popular boxing comedy.
His next few films failed to make much of an impression on critics or moviegoers, but he scored a modest hit with 1984’s Irreconcilable Differences. He co-starred with Shelley Long as parents who are sued for divorce by their daughter (played by Drew Barrymore).
O’Neal returned to his television roots in 1991 with the sitcom Good Sports. He played a former football star who lands a sportscaster job at a sports cable network and ends up working with a former fling, played by Farah Fawcett, his long-term girlfriend. The show lasted for only seven months.
Roughly a decade later, O’Neal appeared on the short-lived television drama Bull. He tried again in 2003 with the romantic comedy Miss Match, playing the father of a matchmaker across from Alicia Silverstone. The show was a ratings disaster and didn’t last a full season. Around 2005, he scored a recurring role on the hit crime drama Bones even as his personal life was embroiled in controversy.
Ex-Wives, Farah Fawcett Relationship, and Children
O’Neal’s personal life seemed much like the soap opera he once starred in. He was married and divorced twice and had a long-term relationship with actor Farah Fawcett. O’Neal was also a father of four, though his relationships with most of his children were strained and provided plenty of fodder for celebrity tabloids.
In 1963, O’Neal married fellow actor Joanna Moore. The couple had two children together: a daughter named Tatum in 1963 and a son named Griffin in 1964. They split up a few years later, divorcing in 1967. That same year, O’Neal married for the second time. He wed actor Leigh Taylor-Young, with whom he had a son Patrick. O’Neal and Taylor-Young also divorced around 1974.
In 1983, O’Neal made headlines for a fight he had with his oldest son, Griffin, in which he knocked out two of Griffin’s teeth. More incidents involving O’Neal’s temper, his children, and sometimes drugs were to come.
Also in the early ’80s, gossip columns buzzed with rumors that O’Neal was dating actor Farrah Fawcett. Fawcett was still married to actor Lee Majors at the time, who was also one of O’Neal’s friends. The rumors were true. While O’Neal and Fawcett never married, they welcomed a son, Redmond, in 1985.
His relationship with Fawcett was an endless source of interest for the tabloid press. The couple broke up in the late 1990s, but they remained friendly after the split. They reunited in 2001, as O’Neal faced another challenge: cancer. He was able to successfully treat his chronic myelogenous leukemia with medication and entered into remission.
In 2005, O’Neal found himself under media scrutiny after his daughter, Tatum, published her autobiography A Paper Life. She wrote that Ryan was an abusive father and was responsible for introducing her and her brother Griffin to drugs at an early age.
More family drama occurred in 2007, when O’Neal was arrested on assault charges after another run-in with son Griffin. During the altercation, Griffin’s pregnant girlfriend was struck in the head with a fireplace poker, and O’Neal shot a gun into the air. The charges were later dropped. The O’Neal family continued to make headlines, however, with the drug-related arrests of Ryan, Redmond, and Tatum in 2008.
As Fawcett had for O’Neal, the Love Story star supported Fawcett as she battled her own cancer, beginning in 2006. Fawcett, with the help of friend Alana Stewart, documented her struggle with the disease. The footage later became the two-hour television special Farrah’s Story, which aired in May 2009. O’Neal appeared on the television news show 20/20 to talk about Fawcett’s struggle and how her illness had brought them closer together. He even said that he was going to marry Fawcett, but her condition deteriorated before that could happen.
On June 25, 2009, Fawcett died. Even her funeral became a part of the O’Neal family drama. Ryan refused to allow Griffin to attend the service because he had disparaged his father in the press. Griffin told the media that Ryan only wanted to marry Farrah for her money. Ryan also didn’t recognize his daughter, Tatum, when she came to pay her respects. His son Patrick was also in attendance.
Later Career
After Fawcett’s death, O’Neal pondered the uncertainty of his career going forward. “There’s nothing out there for me. I don’t want to be somebody’s grandfather... so I wait around—and dream,” O’Neal once told People magazine.
O’Neal’s final prominent role was playing himself on the Oprah Winfrey Network reality show Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals, a reality show starring him and his estranged daughter, Tatum, in 2011. Although the series provided the impression that the pair had mended their relationship, Ryan later stated the opposite: “We’re further apart now than we were when we started the show,” he said.
In 2012, Ryan released a book titled Both of Us: My Life with Farrah about his relationship with Fawcett. He continued to make recurring appearances on Bones through 2017, and he also acted in the 2015 movie Knight of Cups starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Natalie Portman.
Prostate Cancer and Death
In 2012, the actor revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was receiving treatment.
O’Neal died on December 8, 2023. His son Patrick confirmed his death in an Instagram post the following day. “I will share my father’s legacy forever. I will not be deterred from outside voices that say negative things,” Patrick wrote, adding that his father died “peacefully.”
Tatum similarly paid tribute to her father in an Instagram video and told People in a statement that she felt lucky they were able to end their relationship on good terms. “He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me, too,” she said.
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