Ryan O’Neal, whose rogue charm and matinee idol good looks brought 1970s super-stardom with his Oscar-nominated performance in “Love Story” and “Paper Moon” and from his glamorous relationship with Farrah Fawcett in the 1980s, has died at 82.
The actor had battled myriad illnesses later in life, including leukemia and prostate cancer.
His son, sportscaster Patrick O’Neal, shared the news in a series of Instagram posts on Friday.
“So this is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to say but here we go. 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 wrote in the caption of a photo of a sunset.
“He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop,” he added.
Ryan O’Neal acted alongside Ali MacGraw, Barbra Streisand and daughter Tatum O’Neal
The one-time Golden Gloves boxer found his Hollywood star rise with the role of heartthrob Rodney Harrington in TV’s nighttime soap opera “Peyton Place,” appearing in 501 episodes from 1964 to 1969.
But O’Neal was intent on movie stardom, landing his major breakthrough role as upper crust Harvard student Oliver Barrett IV who falls for working class Radcliffe College student Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw) in 1970’s “Love Story.”
The romantic tragedy, Jenny’s vibrant life is cut short due to cancer, and the movie’s famed lined “Love is never having to say you’re sorry” became an instant cultural classic. The box office smash was nominated for nine Oscars, including best picture and a best actor nomination for O’Neal, his only Academy Award recognition. “Love Story” remains No. 9 on the most romantic films of all time by the American Film Institute.
O’Neal’s fame accelerated with his next movie, starring with Barbra Streisand in director Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 screwball comedy “What’s Up, Doc? (1972),” the third-highest-grossing of that year. He reunited with Bogdanovich in “Paper Moon,” to play a smooth-talking Depression-era swindler reluctantly saddled with his headstrong nine-year-old daughter — played by his real-life daughter Tatum.
While O’Neal would not receive an Oscar nomination for his critically praised performance in “Paper Moon,” the comedy drama would earn Tatum a historic best supporting actress Academy Award at age 10 in 1974.
O’Neal called to congratulate his daughter for her Oscar from London where he was shooting the period drama “Barry Lyndon” with director Stanley Kubrick. But the aftermath marked the beginning of his off-screen drama with oft-estranged daughter Tatum. “In the press, he played the doting father,” she wrote in “A Paper Life,” her 2004 memoir. “But in his eyes, I read the truth: deep resentment that his own brilliant performance was being dismissed.”
After 20 years of not speaking, the estranged father and daughter appeared in a 2011 reality show on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network titled “Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals,” which lasted for nine episodes as the two tried to reconcile their differences.
During a 2018 interview with Megyn Kelly, Tatum O’Neal looked into the camera and sent a message to her estranged father, saying: “I want to say to my dad, if you’re watching this, I love you. I’ve always loved you and forgiveness is the best policy.”
O’Neal cut off ties with Tatum O’Neal’s brother Griffin (his second child with Joanna Moore) following a volatile relationship. The father remained close to sportscaster son Patrick (with second wife Leigh Taylor-Young).
Tatum O’Neal shared in a statement to People magazine on Friday that she feels a “great sorrow with my father’s passing.”
“He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too. I’ll miss him forever. and I feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms,” she added.