Stars gathered to pay tribute to the late Ryan O’Neal at a celebration of life memorial service held on Saturday at the DGA Theater Complex in Hollywood.
Elegantly dressed attendees shared their memories and experiences of working with the legendary actor, shedding light on the impact he had on both the industry and their personal lives.
Among those who spoke with 360Aproko Kevin Frazier was Alicia Silverstone, who had the opportunity to collaborate with O’Neal over two decades ago on the 2003 show Miss Match.
Reflecting on their time together, Silverstone shared, “Well, Ryan and I did a show called Miss Match when I was about 25 years old, and he was so lovely, and he’s cheeky too, you know? We had to tell him to behave yourself sometimes ’cause he’s so sweet and funny and all, you know.”
Silverstone went on to praise O’Neal’s acting prowess, saying, “He was an extraordinary actor. I mean just watching remembering all of the things that he had done and how beautifully he executed it is so contained and I mean the scene where he was just sitting at the piano and watching, was it the piano, and he was watching just the way he’s watching her and all that’s happening in his mind is so beautiful it’s so subtle and so much and then him with his daughter Tatum O’Neal was so cute.”
Jacqueline Bisset also took a trip down memory lane, recalling her collaboration with O’Neal on the 1973 film The Thief Who Came to Dinner. Bisset reminisced, “I did a film called The Thief Who Came to Dinner, where he played a thief, he was quite a naughty thief, and I was a certain female who got forward with him, and it was quite fun.”
Reflecting on the passage of time and the loss of fellow industry members, Bisset expressed, “Everybody like all the leading personnel, our directors, they’re all gone. We’re all diminishing which is all quite hard to deal with. And I thought I don’t know who’s going to be there for Ryan, but I wanted to be here.”
Bisset fondly remembered O’Neal, saying, “He was a lot of fun, you know? He had a lot of energy. He just loved being successful, he just enjoyed it. Loved the fans, he was a bit of a number. When fans came up to him, he was really happy about it. He didn’t play the shy introvert.”
Eric Roberts touched on what made O’Neal unique, stating, “There was nobody like him, and he went from being beautiful and delicate to being cool and wise, you know?” Roberts praised O’Neal’s versatility and impact on people’s lives, noting, “He impacted people’s lives in a positive way, and he owned his stuff. He was really honest about himself personally, which really ended up being really good for this family, you know there was goodness there.”
Jamie Kennedy, who worked with O’Neal in the 2003 film Malibu’s Most Wanted, highlighted the actor’s legendary status, saying, “Ryan is one of the last true movie stars, and to be in my movie, he blessed it, you know because he was such a legend.” Kennedy shared lighthearted moments from the set, stating, “Every day he came to set, he would just tell me something and we would just laugh.”
Ryan’s daughter, Tatum O’Neal, also spoke with 360Aproko at the event about the celebration of his life.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. I sure love my dad,” Tatum shared. “I actually cried this morning, which is rare, you know. I had actually stopped crying throughout my life, and I cried this morning really hard. It was beautiful. I love my dad, always.”
Back in December, Ryan’s son, Patrick O’Neal, shared the heartbreaking newsthat his father had died at age 82. Patrick took to Instagram and shared that Ryan had “passed away peacefully” on Dec. 8 “with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us.”
According to Ryan’s death certificate, the actor died of congestive heart failure and suffered from cardiomyopathy for years. The Mayo Clinic notes cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body, which can lead to heart failure.
O’Neal died at St. John’s Medical in Los Angeles, his death certificate shows. There were no other contributing factors that led to his death, and he was buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park.
