Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American actress, model, author, and activist. She is known for her modeling and spokesperson work for
CoverGirl cosmetics starting in 1963, and her starring role in the
Oscar-winning 1971 film ''
Summer of '42.''
She also starred in the
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
western ''
Rio Lobo'' (1970), and worked in Italian cinema, such as
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...
's famous giallo horror film ''
Sette note in nero'' and
Luchino Visconti's final film
''The Innocent'' (1976). She starred in the cult horror film ''
Scanners'' (1981), the
Rachel Scott biopic ''
I'm Not Ashamed'' (2016), and the short-lived television series ''
Cover Up'' (1984–85). Since the 1990s, O'Neill has been a
born-again Christian
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
and active in the
pro-life movement, and worked as a
motivational speaker
A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk.
Motivational speakers c ...
.
Early life
O'Neill was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother was English and her father was a Brazilian of Portuguese, Spanish and Irish ancestry. She and her older brother Michael were raised in New Rochelle, New York, and Wilton, Connecticut. When she was 14, the family moved to New York City. On Easter Sunday, 1962, O'Neill attempted suicide because the move would separate her from her dog Mandy and horse Monty — "her whole world".
That same year, she was discovered by the
Ford modeling agency. By age 15, while attending the prestigious
Dalton School
The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located i ...
in Manhattan, she was appearing on the covers of
''Vogue'',
''Cosmopolitan'', and
''Seventeen'', earning $80,000 ($ today)
in 1962.
[
An accomplished equestrienne, O'Neill won upwards of 200 ribbons at horse show competitions in her teens. With her modelling fees, she had purchased a horse, named Alezon. However, it once balked before a wall at a horse show, throwing her, and breaking her neck and back in three places.][ She attended New York City's ]Professional Children's School
Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic ed ...
and the Dalton School in Manhattan, but dropped out to wed her first husband, IBM executive Dean Rossiter, at age 17.
Career
In 1968 O'Neill landed a small role in '' For Love of Ivy''. In 1970 she played her first lead role in the Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
film '' Rio Lobo'' with her co-star John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
. She had a supporting role in Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor.
He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...
's '' Such Good Friends'' (1971) starring Dyan Cannon and Ken Howard
Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in '' 1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Wh ...
.
In the 1971 film '' Summer of '42'', O'Neill played Dorothy Walker, the early-20s wife of an airman who has gone off to fight in World War II. She stated in a 2002 interview that her agent had to fight to even get a reading for the part, since the role had been cast for an "older woman" to a "coming of age" 15-year-old boy, and the director was only considering actresses over the age of thirty.
In 1972, she co-starred with Tom Jones
Tom Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer
*Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist
*''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...
in David Winters's television special ''The Special London Bridge Special
''The Special London Bridge Special'' is a 1972 musical variety television special. It was made to celebrate the acquisition of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was filmed in Lake Havasu following the opening of the London Br ...
''.
O'Neill continued acting for the next two decades. She appeared in Hollywood feature films, made-for-television films, and European films,
In 1976, she acted in Luchino Visconti's last film, '' The Innocent''.
She was originally cast in the Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
film ''The Black Hole
''The Black Hole'' is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgn ...
'' (1979), but was told she needed to cut her hair because it would be easier to film the zero-G scenes. She gave in, drinking wine during the haircut and leaving noticeably impaired. She lost the part after a serious car crash on the way home.
When her movie career slowed, O'Neill took roles in series television. She starred in NBC's short-lived 1982 prime time soap opera '' Bare Essence'' and played the lead female role on the 1984 television series '' Cover Up''. On October 12, 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum
Jon-Erik Hexum (; November 5, 1957 – October 18, 1984) was an American actor and model, known for his lead roles in the TV series '' Voyagers!'' and '' Cover Up'', and his supporting role as Pat Trammell in the biopic '' The Bear''. He died by a ...
, O'Neill's co-star in the '' Cover Up'' television series, mortally wounded himself on the show's set, unaware that a gun loaded with a blank cartridge could still cause extreme damage from the effect of expanding powder gases. He died six days later.
O'Neill is listed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
's Center for Advertising History for her long-standing contract with CoverGirl cosmetics as its model and spokesperson in ads and television commercials.
Activism
In 2004, O'Neill wrote and published ''From Fallen to Forgiven'',[
] a book of biographical notes and thoughts about life and existence. O'Neill recounted how she underwent an abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
while dating a Wall Street socialite after the divorce from her first husband. Her regrets over the experience contributed to her becoming an anti-abortion-rights activist and a born-again Christian
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
in 1986 at age 38. She also began counseling abstinence
Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc.
...
to teens. Concerning her abortion, she writes:
O'Neill continues to be active as a writer working on her second autobiography, ''CoverStory'', an inspirational speaker, and fundraiser for the benefit of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States. She has also served as the spokesperson for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, an organization for people who regret that they or their partners had abortions.
Personal life
O'Neill has been married nine times to eight husbands (she married, divorced, and remarried her sixth husband Richard Alan Brown).[
] She has three children from three husbands.[
* Dean Rossiter (1965–1971, divorced, 1 child)
* Joseph Koster (1972–1974, divorced)
* ]Nick De Noia
Nicholas John De Noia Jr. (May 14, 1941 – April 7, 1987) was an American director, screenwriter, and choreographer known for his work as choreographer of the Chippendales dance troupe and for his '' Unicorn Tales'' shorts for young audiences, fo ...
(1975–1976, divorced)
* Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...
(1978–1979, divorced)
* John Lederer (1979–1983, divorced, 1 child)
* Richard Alan Brown (1986–1989, divorced, 1 child)
* Neil L. Bonin (1992–1993, annulled)
* Richard Alan Brown (1993–1996, divorced)
* Mervin Sidney Louque Jr. (1996–present)
Ex-husband Nick de Noia was murdered in 1987 by one of his former associates.
On October 23, 1982, O'Neill suffered a gunshot wound in her home on McClain Street in Bedford, New York. Police officers who interviewed O'Neill determined that she had accidentally shot herself in the abdomen with a .38 caliber
.38 caliber is a frequently used name for the caliber of firearms and firearm cartridges.
The .38 is considered a large firearm cartridge; anything larger than .32 is considered a large caliber.Wright, James D.; Rossi, Peter H.; Daly, Kathleen ...
revolver at her 30-acre, 25-room French-style estate while trying to determine if the weapon was loaded. Her husband at the time, John Lederer, was not in the house when the handgun was discharged, but two other people were in the house. Detective Sgt. Thomas Rothwell was quoted as having said that O'Neill "didn't know much about guns."["Actress claims shooting was accident", '' Minden Press-Herald'', October 26, 1982, p. 1]
In her 1999 autobiography ''Surviving Myself'', O'Neill describes many of her life experiences, including her marriages, career, and her move to her Tennessee farm in the late 1990s. She has said that she wrote the autobiography (her first book) "... at the prompting of her children."
O'Neill has dual citizenship, being a Brazilian and U.S. citizen.
Filmography
Film
Television
Books published
*''Surviving Myself,'' New York: William Morrow and Company, 1999.
*''From Fallen to Forgiven,'' Thomas Nelson, 2002.
*''You're Not Alone: Healing Through God's Grace After Abortion.'' Faith Communications, 2005.
*''Remarkable Women,'' Insight Publishing Group, 2005.
*''A Fall Together,'' B&H Publishing Group, 2006.
*''A Winter of Wonders,'' B&H Publishing Group, 2007.
*''A Late Spring Frost,'' B&H Publishing Group, 2007
*''Faith Lessons,'' Insight Publishing Group, 2008.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Jennifer
1948 births
Living people
People from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Brazilian people of English descent
Brazilian people of Spanish descent
Brazilian people of Irish descent
Brazilian emigrants to the United States
Actresses from New Rochelle, New York
Activists from New Rochelle, New York
Actresses from Rio de Janeiro (city)
American anti-abortion activists
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Dalton School alumni
American people of Brazilian descent
American people of Spanish descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of English descent
American Christians