Patrick O’Neal, son of “Ryan O’Neal” paid homage to his father and said, “Ryan O’Neal (82 years old), is the most handsome actor, who rose from a TV soap opera to an Oscar nomination for “Love Story” and gave a funny performance in “Paper Moon” alongside his endearing 9-year-old daughter Tatum, passed away on Friday.”
“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us,” Patrick O’Neal, a Los Angeles sportscaster, posted on Instagram. The reason of death was not stated. A decade after receiving his initial diagnosis of chronic leukaemia, actor was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012.
Patrick O’Neal wrote, “My father, Ryan O’Neal, has always been my hero. He is a Hollywood legend.”
Actor’s initial career and relationship:
In the 1970s, O’Neal was one of the biggest cinema stars in the world, starring in films of different genres with some of the most well-known directors of the time, such as Stanley Kubrick for “Barry Lyndon” and Peter Bogdanovich for “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up, Doc?” His boyish, blond good looks were often employed to represent men whose polished appearances belied dark or dangerous backgrounds.
In the 2010s, O’Neal continued to have a successful career in television acting far into his 70s. He made appearances on shows like “Bones” and “Desperate Housewives,” but his turbulent family life and long-standing relationship with Farrah Fawcett kept him in the public eye.
After going through two divorces, actor maintained a romantic relationship with Fawcett for almost thirty years. In 1985, their son Redmond was born. The pair parted ways in 1997 but got back together a few years later. He stood by Fawcett’s side during her illness, which ultimately claimed her life in 2009 at the age of 62.
With his first wife, Joanna Moore, Ryan’s father Griffin O’Neal and Ryan’s daughter Tatum O’Neal, who were his co-star in the 1973 movie “Paper Moon,” for which she won an Oscar for best supporting actress. He had son Patrick with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young
The Box Office hit of Ryan O’Neal: Love Story
In the 1970 heartbreaking drama “Love Story,” which costarred Ali MacGraw and told the story of a young couple who fall in love, get married, and then learn that the woman is dying of cancer, actor received his own Oscar nomination for best actor. The film features the iconic, yet frequently parodied, quote, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
The romantic melodrama topped the box office in 1970, went on to become one of Paramount Pictures’ biggest hits, and was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture. Best music was awarded to it.
Impact of personal issues in O’Neal career:
The actor occasionally had tense relationships with three of his kids: he was estranged from his daughter, had arguments with his son Griffin, and was arrested for drugs after his son Redmond’s probation was violated. Even though his attempts to make amends with Tatum O’Neal were turned into a brief reality series, his personal drama frequently overshadowed his later career.
“So sad to hear the news of Ryan O’Neal’s passing,” Streisand, who also starred with O’Neal in the 1979 boxing romcom “The Main Event,” posted on Instagram. “He was funny and charming, and he will be remembered.”
Father-daughter relationship:
The year after “What’s Up, Doc?” Bogdanovich cast him in the Depression-era con artist comedy “Paper Moon.”
In it, O’Neal played an unscrupulous Bible salesman preying on widows he located through obituary notices. His real-life daughter, Tatum, played a trash-talking, cigarette-smoking orphan who needs his help — and eventually helps redeem him.
Both actors received high marks from critics, but the young girl’s audacious performance eclipsed her father’s, making her the youngest person to ever win a regular Academy Award. In 1974, she was 10 years old when the award was given out.
O’Neal then re-teamed with Tatum in Bogdanovich’s early Hollywood comedy “Nickelodeon” (1976). But the film was a flop and they never worked together again. An attempt to capitalise on his “Love Story” character, Oliver Barrett, with the sequel “Oliver’s Story” (1978) resulted in another flop.
Father and daughter drifted apart because O’Neal got to know about his daughter’s marriage to tennis great John McEnroe by a belated telegram, Ryan O’Neal wrote in a 2012 book about his relationship with Fawcett. In “Both of Us,” O’Neal wrote, “A door inside me locked the morning the telegram came, and I am still blindly searching for the key to open it.”
Weak moments in Ryan’s Life:
In O’Neal’s personal life, the decade was also a low point. The son of film director Francis Ford Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, 23, died in a boating accident in Maryland in 1986. Gian-Carlo Coppola’s father, Griffin, had multiple run-ins with the law. Griffin O’Neal was found guilty of operating a boat carelessly and recklessly. As a result, he was sentenced to community service and briefly went to jail.
With his Hollywood status diminishing, Ryan O’Neal began appearing in TV movies and eventually returned to series television opposite then-lover Fawcett with the 1991 sitcom “Good Sports,” but the show ran only one season.
O’Neal talked about his relationship with Fawcett and said in “We get into fights,She’s tough. She expects to be treated well. On a set that can get lost when you’re trying to create a moment and you’re fighting the clock.”
New era of O’Neal career:
Ryan O’Neal began accepting more supporting roles with the 1989 film “Chances Are.” He began a second career as a character actor, playing a husband who hires a hitman to kill his wife in “Faithful” (1996) and a mysterious tycoon in the blackmail comedy “Zero Effect” (1998
He was still close to Fawcett, and they later rekindled their romance in the 2000s, but by then their relationship had ended. But the erratic O’Neal family dynamics that had previously strained their relationship persisted.
The son of actors, Patricia Callaghan O’Neal and Charles Patrick, Ryan O’Neal was born on April 20, 1941. Before realising that performing was his true calling,O’Neal worked as a lifeguard and an amateur boxer.
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