Ryan O’Neal, the famous star of “Love Story” and owner of a film and television career that spanned more than six decades, died Friday at age 82 in Los Angeles.
He had suffered from chronic leukemia since 2001 (ironically, the disease that led to the death, in fiction, of his partner in the aforementioned film, Ali McGraw) and was also diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012. O’Neal was born on 20 April 1941 in Los Angeles. He got his first credit in an episode of “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” and from there he had numerous roles on television between 1960 and 1963. In 1964 he won the role of heartthrob Rodney Harrington in the prime-time drama “Peyton Place,” a great success that lasted five seasons and opened the doors of even higher-profile work for its protagonists.
The decade of the 70s was his great moment, especially after the duet he formed with Ali MacGraw in “Love Story” by Arthur Hiller based on a novel by Erich Segal, a film that had a sequel in 1978 “Oliver’s Story”. The famous director Peter Bogdanovich chose him as a fetish actor and together with him he acted in “What’s up doctor?” (1972), “Paper Moon” (1973), “Nickelodeon/What’s Up, Director?” (1976). Prestige and international laurels were granted to him by Stanley Kubrick when he made him the protagonist of his masterpiece “Barry Lyndon” in 1977.
Later, with his star beginning to decline, he acted for Richard Brooks and Terrence Malick, among others, and closer in time with roles in television series such as “Bones,” “Bull” and “90210.” He had several romantic relationships, but none as important as the one that united him with Farrah Fawcett, remembered among other things as one of the original “Charlie’s Angels.”
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
