Oliver's Story

 What can you say about an eighty-two year old man who died?

My first connection to Ryan O'Neal was through Mad Magazine. At eight years old, I was not quite ready to go to the cinema and experience Love Story in all its 1970 glory. Instead, the first time I encountered Mister O'Neal was through his caricatured face in Lover's Story, brought to me by that "usual gang of idiots." Surprising that they didn't go with their more standard "Love Blecch." 

It would be another three years before I was ready to take a seat inside the theater to see the acting prowess of Ryan O'Neal. This was the year of Paper Moon. 1973. Ryan's eight year old daughter starred with him, which I suppose made this a "kids film" in the eyes of my parents. In my eyes it was an art film because it was in black and white. A black and white film released only three years before our nation's two hundredth birthday. It was also one of the first times I connected a director with a film: Peter Bogdanovich. 

Two years later I went with my family once again to see Barry Lyndon. This time Ryan O'Neal was in the expressly capable hands of director Stanley Kubrick. My father complained bitterly about the film after we left the theater, which probably cemented my commitment and fascination with Kubrick's work. 

And then things began to slip a bit for Mister O'Neal. He kept working in film and television, but his personal life became more interesting than his roles. This trend culminated in his relationship with Farrah Fawcett, and their on-again off-again relationship was generally considered to be off in 1997, but it was Ryan who was by Farrah's side when she passed away from cancer in 2009. 

It would be nice to say, upon his passing, that Ryan O'Neal brought me to the work of one more great director before he died. That would not be the case. For the record, it wasn't until I was in college working in a video store that I finally got around to watching Love Story. I confess that I enjoyed the Mad Magazine parody more. But this is the passing of Hollywood royalty, of sorts, and if those three films mentioned here were listed on anyone else's resume, you would say that they stomped on the Terra. And for a short time back in the 1970s, maybe that is what Ryan O'Neal did. He will be missed. Or at least the Mad Magazine version of his life will be.