The melody of Love Story resonates in the memory of an entire generation alongside images of Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal on the campus of Harvard Law School or in the snowy parks of Boston. The film, considered one of the greatest love stories in cinema, marked the career of both its protagonists and its director and the author of the soundtrack, Francis Lai, who won the Oscar for best soundtrack out of seven nominations. that the film had in 1971.
O’Neal, son of a screenwriter of Irish origin who had inherited his passion for boxing, saw how this adaptation of a best-seller by Erich Segal directed by Arthur Hiller turned his hitherto modest dramatic career into a the fashionable Hollywood heartthrob of the 70s.
The director was looking for a young, manly and familiar face, and the more than half a thousand episodes of the soap opera Peyton Place, which he filmed between 1964 and 1969 playing Rodney Harrington, allowed him to meet that first requirement of the script.
From there, he accumulated a series of roles, among which his characters in What’s wrong with me, doctor? (1972), by Peter Bogdanovich, also inaugurating a successful career in the comedy genre; Paper Moon (1973), also by Peter Bogdanovich, where he established himself as a supporting actor; Barry Lyndon (1975), by Stanley Kubrick; Nickelodeon (1976), again with Peter Bogdanovich; A Bridge Far Away (1977), by Richard Attenborough, or The Driver (1978), by Walter Hill.
O’Neal even appeared in the pools to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) or Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976), although he missed both trains and had to settle for success in Howard’s Battlegrounds (1979). Zieff, a romantic comedy set in the world of boxing in which he starred alongside Barbra Streisand, and a sequel to John Korty’s Love Story, Oliver’s Story (1978).
His star faded despite the fact that his film career was full of supporting roles throughout the 1980s. And in 1998 he was able to work again under the direction of Hiller in Hollywood Burns!
When he had practically disappeared from the scene, at the beginning of 2007 O’Neal reappeared after being arrested by the Los Angeles police accused of attacking his eldest son with a weapon during a family fight at the actor’s home. He was accused of assault and negligent use of a firearm, since he fired a shot.
This Friday, another of his children announced his loss through his Instagram account: “This is the hardest thing I have ever said so here we go. My father passed away today peacefully, with his beloved team at his side supporting him and loving him as he loved us.” In 2012 O’Neal had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
