Late actor Ryan O’Neal was one of Hollywood’s leading men for decades — with his off-screen love life making headlines, too.
On Dec. 8, the “Love Story” actor’s son, Patrick O’Neal, announced his father’s death with a post on Instagram, describing it as the “toughest thing” he ever had to say and described his father as a “Hollywood legend.”
Patrick O’Neal is one of four of Ryan O’Neal’s children. The actor welcomed Patrick O’Neal — a sportscaster— with his second wife, actor Leigh Taylor-Young, in 1967.
Prior to this, the late actor had two other children with his ex-wife and actor Joanna Moore. His first child, Tatum O’Neal, starred alongside him in the 1973 comedy-drama “Paper Moon,” for which she won an Oscar.
Ryan O’Neal’s life as a father was famously dotted with periods of estrangement from his children. In a 2009 interview with Vanity Fair, he largely attributed their alienation to his incapability to be a father.
“I’m a hopeless father. I don’t know why. I don’t think I was supposed to be a father,” he said. “Just look around at my work — they’re either in jail or they should be. I have nice grandchildren, though.”
Read on to learn about Ryan O’Neal’s kids.
Tatum O’Neal
Tatum O’Neal was born in 1963. Her mother was actor Joanna Moore, who appeared in series like “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “Perry Mason.”
In 1974, Tatum O’Neal became the youngest person in history to win an Academy Award for her performance in the film “Paper Moon,” which she starred in alongside her father.
Later, she would go on to star in films like “The Bad News Bears” and “Little Darlings.”
In 2001, Tatum O’Neal alleged to Access Hollywood that her father had been emotionally and physically abusive to her.
Tatum O’Neal and her father starred in two other films together, “Nickelodeon” in 1976 and “Circle of Two” in 1981. Despite their early collaborations by the 2010s, the two had not spoken to one another for nearly three decades.
In 2011, the two appeared in a brief docuseries about their attempt to repair their estrangement, “Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals,” which was distributed by Oprah Winfrey Network.
They appeared to have rekindled their relationship when she posted a photo of herself and her father on his birthday.
“Happy birthday dad I love you,” she captioned an April 21, 2023, photo of the two together.
She shared three children, Emily, Sean and Kevin McEnroe, with ex-husband, former tennis star John McEnroe.