Biography
Though his early career seemed to hold the promise of major stardom for actor Ryan O'Neal, matters didn't pan out and he has become more famous for his long-term live-in relationship with 1970s poster girl-turned-movie star-of-the-week actress
Farrah Fawcett than any of his '80s and '90s films. Still, O'Neal is an appealing actor and his clean-cut good looks and reddish- blond hair give him an exuberant boyishness that belies his age. His first major role was that of Rodney Harrington on the television soap opera
Peyton Place (1964-1969).
O'Neal is the son of screenwriter
Charles O'Neal and actress Patricia Callaghan O'Neal. A California native, he spent much of his childhood living abroad. As a young man, O'Neal sometimes got into trouble and at one point served a 51-day jail sentence for assault and battery after getting into a fight at a New Year's party. Before becoming an actor, O'Neal was a lifeguard and an amateur boxer who was a one-time Golden Gloves contender. In film and television, O'Neal started out as a stunt man on Tales of the Vikings, a German television series. His parents were working on the same show. Upon his return to the States, O'Neal continued finding work in small parts on television shows, getting his first regular acting job on the Western
Empire (1962). Following the demise of
Peyton Place, O'Neal made his feature debut in
The Big Bounce (1969), but did not get his big break until he was chosen from 300 auditioners to play Oliver Barrett opposite Ally McGraw in
Arthur Hiller's maudlin adaptation of Erich Seagal's best-seller Love Story- (1970). The film was a smash hit and landed O'Neal an Oscar nomination. Two more starring roles followed this success but it was not until he played an uptight professor who finds himself beleaguered by a free-spirited, love-struck
Barbra Streisand in
Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up Doc? (1972) that he rivaled the success of
Love Story. It has been in light, romantic fare such as this that O'Neal has excelled. His next popular role was that of an exasperated con man in
Paper Moon, the charming comedy that netted his co-star and real-life daughter,
Tatum O'Neal, an Oscar. O'Neal then played the title role in
Stanley Kubrick's slow-paced epic
Barry Lyndon (1975). By the late '70s, O'Neal's career had gone into decline and he had begun appearing in such dismal outings as
Oliver's Story (the 1978 sequel to his first big hit) and
The Main Event (1979) which reteamed him with Streisand. The '80s were even tougher for O'Neal, even though he appeared regularly onscreen. In 1989, O'Neal turned up in the wrenching made-for-TV-movie
Small Sacrifices, which starred his lover Fawcett. Two years later, he and Fawcett starred in the short-lived television sitcom Good Sports. Before hooking up with her in the early '80s, O'Neal was married to actresses to
Joanna Moore and
Leigh Taylor-Young. His children from those marriages, Tatum and
Griffin O'Neal, are both actors as is his brother Kevin O'Neal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide