Griffin Patrick O'Neal (born October 28, 1964) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''
The Escape Artist
An escape artist is an expert on escapology, the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps.
Escape Artist may also refer to:
* Escape Artist Records, an independent record label formed in 1997
* ''The Escape Artist'' (film), a 1982 Ame ...
'', ''
April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...
'', ''
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
Griffin O'Neal was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to actor
Ryan O'Neal
Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal (April 20, 1941 – December 8, 2023) was an American actor. Born in Los Angeles, he trained as an amateur boxer before beginning a career in acting in 1960.
In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ...
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). Griffin has an older sister,
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal (born November 5, 1963) is an American actress. At the age of 10, she became the youngest person ever to win a competitive Academy Award, for her performance as Addie Loggins in '' Paper Moon'' co-starring her father, Ry ...
, and two younger half brothers, Patrick O'Neal and Redmond O'Neal. Griffin's grandfather was novelist and screenwriter Charles "Blackie" O'Neal. His paternal ancestry is Irish, English, and
Ashkenazi Jewish
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
.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, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...
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 was 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 2000. ...
of the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote in 1982 that Griffin O'Neal "shares with his sister a natural screen presence." Likewise, film critic
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...
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 filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
'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 and has three children.
Substance abuse and relationship with Ryan O'Neal
O'Neal was estranged from his father Ryan O'Neal. They 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 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 a ...
, 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 of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. 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
Gian-Carlo Coppola (September 17, 1963 – May 26, 1986) was an American film producer and actor. A scion of the Coppola family associated with the film industry, he was the oldest child of Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, and elder brother to ...
. 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 filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
sued O'Neal and seven others for negligence.
O'Neal was arrested multiple times for
driving under the influence
Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...
. 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 portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...