Ryan O’Neal began acting in the 1960s after an amateur boxing career, and he spent his career appearing in many high-profile movies. He’s probably best known for his work in “Love Story,” “Paper Moon,” and “Barry Lyndon,” but that’s a small sample of his work. As the 2000s came, the work O’Neal was doing became more limited, with his most recent major role being in “Bones,” where he played Max Keenan for 24 episodes. O’Neal received a leukemia diagnosis in 2001, and while he overcame that disease, a diagnosis of stage four prostate cancer nearly took him out in 2012. Through his health struggles, he remained by his wife’s side, though Farrah Fawcett died from anal cancer in 2009. Ultimately, O’Neal died of congestive heart failure on December 8, 2023, at the age of 82.
O’Neal posted to his Instagram relatively often, sharing pictures of his life, career, family, pets, and friends. His final Instagram post went live on July 24, 2023, featuring a shot of a newspaper article about him and his son, Patrick. He posted it along with “Give this a read. Very well written and so true. Proud of my boy @patrick_oneal #TeamONeal #GoHalos #GoKingsGo.”
