Oscar-nominated actor Ryan O’Neal, best known for his roles in the 1970s films Paper Moon and What’s Up, Doc? Also, soap opera star Peyton Place died on Friday. He was eighty-two years old. His son confirmed his death in a social media message.
“My father passed away peacefully today, with his beloved team at his side, supporting him and loving him just as he loves us,” Patrick O’Neill said in a post on Instagram. “My hero of choice has always been my dad, Ryan O’Neal. He was always larger than life, which is why I looked up to him.”
He did not give any reason for his death.
Ryan O’Neal’s career took off in 1964, when he got the breakthrough role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place. O’Neal was known as a heartthrob due to his performance in the 1970 box office blockbuster Love Story, for which he received an Oscar nomination. O’Neal co-starred with her real-life daughter Tatum O’Neal as a Depression-era con artist in the 1973 film Paper Moon, a performance that earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of ten. Gave it. Barry Lyndon, A Bridge Too Far, and The Driver are among his other famous film appearances.
According to his website biography, he was born into the industry as the son of playwright Charles “Blackie” O’Neill and actress Patricia O’Callaghan.
Before becoming an actor, the Los Angeles native trained to become a professional boxer. In 1956 and 1957, he participated in two Golden Gloves championships. His agility earned him the role of stuntman on the TV show Tales of the Vikings, his first on-screen performance.
O’Neill told The New York Times in 1978, I love this business now. “There’s something cool about going to work and working on something that has the potential to last for a long time.” But it is a little scary.
In the early ’60s, O’Neal married his first wife, actress Joanna Moore. They had Tatum and Griffin. He married actress Leigh Taylor-Young, with whom he had a son, Patrick. O’Neal also had a son, Redmond, with his beloved late actor, Farrah Fawcett.
As her acting roles became less frequent, her personal life began to make headlines. The actor, who is also known for his short fuse in Hollywood, drug abuse, and problems with the law, went through several tumultuous times with his three children. She allegedly assaulted her son Griffin in 2007, was arrested on drug charges along with her son Redmond a year later, and was separated from Tatum for several years before reconciling in 2020.