Ryan O’Neal, Oscar-nominated actor for Love Story, dies at 82
- No cause of death was given. O’Neal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, a decade after he was first diagnosed with chronic leukaemia
- O’Neal was among the biggest film stars in the world in the 1970s, working across genres with many of the era’s most celebrated directors
Ryan O’Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from a television soap opera to an Oscar-nominated role in Love Story and delivered a wry performance opposite his charismatic 9-year-old daughter Tatum in Paper Moon, died on Friday, his son said.
“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.
No cause of death was given. Ryan O’Neal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, a decade after he was first diagnosed with chronic leukaemia. He was 82.
“My father, Ryan O’Neal, has always been my hero,” Patrick O’Neal wrote, adding, “He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop.”
“He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too,” Tatum O’Neal told People magazine in a statement. “I’ll miss him forever. and I feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms.”
Ryan O’Neal was among the biggest film stars in the world in the 1970s, working across genres with many of the era’s most celebrated directors including Peter Bogdanovich on Paper Moon and What’s Up, Doc? and Stanley Kubrick on Barry Lyndon. He often used his boyish, blond good looks to play men who hid shadowy or sinister backgrounds behind their clean-cut images.
O’Neal maintained a steady television acting career into his 70s in the 2010s, appearing for stints on Bones and Desperate Housewives, but his long-time relationship with actress Farrah Fawcett and his tumultuous family life kept him in the news.