Actor. Born PatrickRyan O'Neal, on April20, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. The son of screenwriter and sometime novelist Charles O'Neal and actress Patricia Callaghan O'Neal, he lived through an aimless, nomadic adolescence on the beaches of California and in several foreign countries. A former lifeguard and amateur boxer (he competed in the 1956 and 1957 Los Angeles Golden Gloves championships), he once spent 51 days in jail for assault and battery during a New Yoark's Eve party. When he was 17 he joined his parents in Muhich, Germany, where they were working on a TV series. It was there that he got his first taste of show business, as a stuntman in a TV series, "Tales of the Vikings". Returning to the U.S., he played occasional roles in various TV shows and was a regular on the Western series "Empire" (1962-1963). He got his first big break in the long-running (1964-1969) "Peyton Place" series, in which he co-starred in more than 500 episodes.
Blond, handsome and boyish, he was selected from among more than 300 candidates who auditioned for the male lead in Erich Segal's Love Story, a role that got him an Oscar nomination and established him as a promising young Hollywood star. The promise was fulfilled for much of the 70's, but O'Neal's popularity faded somewhat in the 80's. The actor, whose brother, Kevin O'Neal, is also a film and TV performer, is the father of actress Tatum O'Neal and troubled actor Griffin O'Neal (born October 28, 1964, Los Angeles) from his first marraige (1963-1967) to actress Joanna Moore. His second marriage (in 1967) to actress Lee Taylor-Young also ended in divorce; with actress-model Farrah Fawcett, he has a son, Redmond Fawcett.
