Ryan O'Neal

BELOVED FOR HIS STAR-MAKING TURN IN LOVE STORY, THE HOLLYWOOD LEGEND LEAVES BEHIND A MEMORABLE (IF MESSY) LEGACY

- LIZ MCNEIL

Ryan O’Neal would be the first to admit he wasn’t always the greatest talent onscreen. Of his most famous role, preppy Harvard student Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, he said, “I didn’t worry about whether I was preparing enough for the part. I made sure I looked right—you know, the right scarf, the right sweater.”

That look—coupled with his charm and undeniable chemistry with costar Ali MacGraw in the hit 1970 film, made him a Hollywood star. But his turbulent life offscreen as the patriarch of one of Hollywood’s most famously self-destructive families often eclipsed his work. As O’Neal, who could be surprisingly candid, once said: “My poor children had a father who was a self-centered bastard, who was constantly in search of success and adventure.”

O’Neal, who died on Dec. 8 at the age of 82, was one of Hollywood’s most iconic lovers and notorious fighters. Among the women he romanced were Cher, Diana Ross, Bianca Jagger, Barbra Streisand, Anjelica Huston and Farrah Fawcett, his most lasting love. Three of his four children—Tatum, 60, Griffin, 59, and Redmond, 38—battled substance abuse, prompting Griffin to once tell People: “The O’Neal family is as talented as hell, but we’re as screwed up as a soup sandwich.” Still, their father inspired loyalty, notably from Tatum, who told People after his death: “He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too.”