When Ryan O’Neal met Farrah Fawcett

The star of the legendary 1970 film Love Story, O’Neal died of congestive heart failure in December, after almost 60 years in the film and television industry.

He and Fawcett – who shot to fame in the TV series Charlie’s Angels in 1976 – were in a relationship for 18 years during the 1980s and ‘90s and had a son, Redmond, in 1985.

One of Hollywood’s most famous celebrity couples of the 20th century, they then rekindled the flame in the early 2000s.

Love Story: Ryan O’Neal

O’Neal was born in Los Angeles in 1941 to screenwriter Charles and actress Patricial O’Neal.

The family emigrated to Germany in the late 1950s, but the teenager struggled at school, so instead took a job as an extra on the set of Tales of the Vikings.

The TV series was filmed in Munich by Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas’ production company. O’Neal went on to become a stuntman for the show and this inspired his interest in acting.

He returned to the US and made his first TV appearance in a one-off role in the sitcom, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, in 1960. This led to further guest appearances in several popular TV series of the era, including The Untouchables and The Virginian.

After winning the role of wealthy Harvard student Oliver Barrett IV, who falls in love with working-class student Jenny Cavilleri; he shot to fame in one of the most iconic movies of the 20th century, Love Story.

Starring as the lovestruck couple who face tragedy in the romantic drama, Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw became global megastars overnight.

The film was made on a budget of £1.7 million but grossed £137.2 million at the box office. Fans hoped there might be a real-life romance between the two co-stars, but this never happened. However, they remained lifelong friends.

O’Neal’s own love life at the time was nothing like the heady romance of his character in Love Story. He had been married and divorced twice by the age of 33.

His marriage to actress Joanna Moore in 1963 ended in 1966, when they separated. They divorced the following year, with O’Neal winning custody of their two children, Tatum and Griffin.

He went on to marry Leigh Taylor-Young, his co-star in the TV series, Peyton Place, in 1967 and they had a son, Patrick, before divorcing in 1974.

By the end of the 1970s, O’Neal was a respected actor who had starred in films such as What’s Up Doc, The Thief Who Came to Dinner, Paper Moon and The Main Event, in which he played a boxer opposite Barbara Streisand.

Farrah Fawcett movies and TV shows

Farrah Fawcett was also a famous actress by the end of the decade, after a successful stint playing a private investigator in the TV drama series, Charlie’s Angels.

Born in 1947 in Texas to oil contractor James and home-maker Pauline Fawcett, she attended Corpus Christi’s WB Ray High School, where classmates voted her the “most beautiful student” for four years running.

In 1968, aged 21, she moved to Hollywood, where she was signed by Screen Gems film production company, although she starred in toothpaste and cosmetics commercials initially.

In 1969, she had guest roles in two US sitcoms, The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie. This led to more TV work, including The Partridge Family, in the early ‘70s.

Fawcett had been actor Lee Majors’ long-time girlfriend when they married in 1973. He became famous for playing The Six Million Dollar Man in the TV series from 1974 to 1978 and Fawcett had a recurring role in the show.

In the 1980s, she starred in several critically acclaimed movies, receiving Emmy Award nominations for playing an abused wife in The Burning Bed and a murderer in Small Sacrifices.

Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett became something of a golden couple in their own right. However, they drifted apart, according to Majors, due to their respective careers preventing them from spending time together.

First meeting

When Ryan O’Neal met Farah Fawcett in 1979, she was still married to his long-time friend Majors.

The future couple’s first meeting was due to O’Neal’s teenage daughter, Tatum, being in Toronto filming a movie, Circle of Two, with Richard Burton at the time.

Her father was visiting and had booked into a local hotel. Tatum ran into Majors one day and introduced herself, saying, “You know I’m Ryan’s daughter?”

Majors hadn’t known Ryan was in Toronto and asked Tatum where he was staying. Later, Majors rang his old friend and invited him out for a drink.

After a night out together to catch up, Majors and O’Neal caught the same flight back to Los Angeles. Majors invited O’Neal to his home for dinner.

As famous meetings go, when O’Neal first set eyes on Fawcett, it was certainly dramatic, as he was immediately smitten. He described her as being “delightful, beautiful and full of childlike warmth”.

According to his 2012 autobiography, Both of Us: My Life with Farrah, O’Neal spent a lot of time socialising with the couple over the next few days.

Majors returned to Canada, where he was filming, but reportedly rang O’Neal to ask if he could take Fawcett out for dinner one night. O’Neal said this was the start of their romance, claiming her marriage to Majors was already on rocky ground by this time.

By 1981, the marriage was coming to an end. In an interview, Majors told reporters his wife was “off doing her films and series” while he was doing his. He said this was the “main reason” they divorced in 1982, as their respective careers meant they “didn’t have time for each other”.

Hollywood’s golden couple

O’Neal and Fawcett went on to become one of Hollywood’s most famous power couples. They also starred opposite each other in Small Sacrifices in 1989, Good Sports in 1991 and Man of the House in 1995.

While their on-screen chemistry created a buzz, the couple began to face challenges in their private life. Reports surfaced that they had a fiery relationship peppered with dramatic arguments. However, close friends said O’Neal was “the love of her life and she was his”. They were “connected forever” and even after separating in 1997, they got back together in 2001.

Tragically, their love story didn’t have the happy ending everyone hoped for. O’Neal was diagnosed with leukaemia and Fawcett nursed him until he went into remission. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer herself in 2006 and their roles were reversed as O’Neal nursed her.

He proposed to his long-time love and Fawcett said yes, but sadly, her illness worsened, and she died in June 2009, at the age of only 62, before they were able to exchange vows.

O’Neal was devastated by the death of Farrah Fawcett and told the media, “It’s a love story. I just don’t know how to play this one.” Describing cancer as an “insidious enemy”, he added, “I won’t know this world without her.”

Following his death in December, O’Neal was laid to rest alongside Fawcett at Westwood Village Memorial Park in LA.

Today, Tatum, who won an Oscar for her role in Paper Moon, is a respected veteran actress. Her most recent movie, Not To Forget, in 2021, raised funds and awareness to aid the battle against Alzheimer’s Disease.