Griffin Patrick O'Neal (born October 28, 1964) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as '' The Escape Artist'', ''
April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...
'', ''
The Wraith
''The Wraith'' is a 1986 independently made American action-fantasy film, produced by John Kemeny, written and directed by Mike Marvin, and starring Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassavetes, and Randy Quaid.Assault of the Killer Bimbos'', and '' Ghoulies III''.
Early life and career
O'Neal was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
to actor
Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera '' Peyton Place ...
and his first wife, actress
Joanna Moore
Joanna Moore (born Dorothy Joanne Cook, November 10, 1934 – November 22, 1997) was an American film and television actress, who, between 1956 and 1976, appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred television series episod ...
(born Dorothy Joanne Cook). He has an older sister,
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal (born November 5, 1963) is an American actress. She is the youngest person ever to win an Academy Award, winning at age 10 for her performance as Addie Loggins in '' Paper Moon'' (1973) opposite her father, Ryan O'Neal. S ...
, and two younger half brothers, Patrick O'Neal and Redmond O'Neal. His grandfather was novelist and screenwriter Charles "Blackie" O'Neal. His paternal ancestry is Irish, English, and
Ashkenazi Jewish
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
.Profile familysearch.org; accessed June 22, 2014.
Early in his childhood, O'Neal and his sister lived with their mother in squalid conditions. Their mother struggled with drug and alcohol addiction while they were in her care. She eventually lost custody of them.
Griffin O'Neal appeared in 11 movies between 1976 and 1992. Several of these were
TV movies
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
or films released directly to video. Film critic
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote in 1982 that Griffin O'Neal "shares with his sister a natural screen presence." Likewise, film critic Leonard Maltin wrote that Griffin O'Neal has a "pleasing screen presence".
O'Neal was cast in
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...
's 1987 film '' Gardens of Stone'', but he asked to be replaced after he caused a boating accident that killed Coppola's son Gian-Carlo.
Personal life
Griffin left Los Angeles in 2007 and moved to a small town near the Mexico border.
Marriages
O'Neal married his first wife Rima Uranga in 1989; they divorced in 1991. They have a daughter together. He has been married to Joanna Berry since 2008.
Substance abuse and relationship with Ryan O'Neal
O'Neal is estranged from his father Ryan O'Neal. They have had a volatile relationship since his childhood. O'Neal's struggle with addiction began when he was 9 years old. He told ''People'' magazine, "My life has been a reign of drug and alcohol degradation. I had to self-medicate my entire life because there was pain everywhere. There were drugs everywhere in my family all day, every day." He claims that his family's problems stemmed from his father, who gave him cocaine at the age of 11. "He was a very abusive, narcissistic psychopath. He gets so mad he can't control anything he's doing," O'Neal said.
In 1983, O'Neal reported to authorities that his father punched out two of his front teeth, but he decided not to press charges.
In 2007, Ryan O'Neal was arrested for assault after shooting at Griffin during a dispute. Prosecutors decided not to file charges. "The last time I saw my dad, he shot at me because I was trying to help his son edmondget sober, so I haven't talked to him in nine years," he told ''People'' in 2015.
O'Neal was banned by his father from attending the funeral services for
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Leni Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played ...
, the mother of his half-brother Redmond O'Neal, in 2009.
O'Neal was reportedly three years sober in 2015.
Legal problems
In 1986, Griffin O'Neal had a boating accident in
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
that took the life of film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola. O'Neal, who was piloting the boat, tried to pass between two other boats, unaware that they were connected by a towline. O'Neal barely had time to duck, but Coppola was struck by the towline and killed. O'Neal was convicted of negligently operating a boat, and later received an 18-day jail sentence for not completing community service.Grossberg, Josh "911 Calls Released in O'Neal Case" ''
E! News
''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...
sued O'Neal and seven others for negligence.
O'Neal was arrested multiple times for
driving under the influence
Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
. He pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge in 1989. He also pleaded no contest in 1992 to charges that he shot at his estranged girlfriend's unoccupied car.
In August 2011, O'Neal collided with another car while driving. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison for driving under the influence of drugs in connection with that incident.
In January 2012, O'Neal was arrested for domestic battery after he pushed his wife out of the way in an attempt to drink and drive.
Filmography
References
Bibliography
* Holmstrom, John. ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 350-351.
Yahoo
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...