Legendary actor Ryan O’Neal has reportedly passed away at the age of 82, his family confirmed in a statement.
“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,” his son, sportscaster Patrick O’Neal wrote in an emotional post. “He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop.”
The late actor trained as an amateur boxer before starting his TV and movie career in 1960. He was later cast in 1964 as Rodney Harrington in ABC’s “Peyton Place.” Among his many notable film credits is the instant classic “Love Story” from 1970, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Actor.
O’Neal has worked with renowned filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on two films during his career: Richard Attenborough’s “A Bridge Too Far” in 1977 and” Barry Lyndon” in 1975.
He was a life partner with the late Farrah Fawcett, star of” Charlie’s Angels,” from 1979 to 1997. The couple got back in touch years later and went on dates from 2001 until her passing in 2009.
“Ryan never bragged, but he has bragging rights in Heaven. Especially when it comes to Farrah. Everyone had the poster, he had the real McCoy. And now they meet again,” Patrick said of his father’s relationship with Fawcett.
His son, Tatum O’Neal, shared in a statement to People magazine that she feels a “great sorrow with my father’s passing.”
“I feel great sorrow with my father’s passing,” Tatum told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “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.”
Barbra Streisand, who he worked with in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 screwball comedy “What’s Up, Doc?” also remembered O’Neal in an Instagram post.
“So sad to hear the news of Ryan O’Neal’s passing,” Streisand wrote in a caption of a photo of the two of them on the set of Bogdanovich’s film. “He was funny and charming, and he will be remembered.”
