Actors - Tatum O'Neal

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	Actors - Tatum O'Neal

Tatum Beatrice O'Neal (born November 5, 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s.

Brief biography

O'Neal was born into the motion picture family of actor Ryan O'Neal (of mostly Irish ancestry) and actress Joanna Moore (of mostly English descent). Her brother, Griffin, was born in 1964. In 1967 her parents divorced and her father married actress Leigh Taylor-Young (the mother of her half-brother, Patrick, who is married to actress Rebecca DeMornay.) Tatum's mother died in 1997 of lung cancer at age 63 after a reasonably successful career in which she had appeared in such movies as Touch of Evil
.

Her father, Ryan, who is in remission now after struggling with a form of leukemia, recently reunited with his former common-law spouse, Farrah Fawcett, after many years of separation. Fawcett and O'Neal have a very troubled son with a drug problem, Redmond O'Neal.

Troubled childhood

In her autobiography called A Paper Life, Tatum O'Neal alleged that she had been the victim of child molestation by a male friend of her father's. Tatum also alleges physical and emotional abuse from her father, much of which she attributes to drug use.

Academy Award as a child

In 1974, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest person ever to receive the Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Paper Moon
. This controversial movie which also featured her real-life father as a con-man, portrayed young Tatum as a child in the company of a crook who was being further tutored in a life of crime and corruption. The motion picture was financed by Herbert W. Armstrong's Ambassador International Cultural Foundation.

Other roles

Other movies starring O'Neal include The Bad News Bears
, Nickelodeon
(both 1976), International Velvet (1978), and Little Darlings
(1980). Her acting career took a backseat to her personal troubles for many years, but in 2005 she had a recurring role on the firehouse drama series Rescue Me (comedy-drama).

In January 2006, she participated in the second season of ABC's smash reality series Dancing with the Stars but was the second contestant to be eliminated in the second round. She went on to do commentary for the series on Entertainment Tonight.

Marriage

In 1986, O'Neal wed multi-millionaire tennis superstar John McEnroe, and the couple had three children: Kevin, Sean, and Emily.

Following their divorce in 1992, she took up residence in New York City. McEnroe, who in 1997 married musician Patty Smyth, has custody of his three children with O'Neal because of her drug problems and psychological issues. However, she has reasonably generous visitation rights.

Filmography

Paper Moon
(1973)
The Bad News Bears
(1976)
Nickelodeon (1976)
International Velvet (1978)
Circle of Two (1980)
Little Darlings
(1980)
Prisoners (1981)
Certain Fury (1985)
Little Noises (1991)
Basquiat
(1996)
The Scoundrel's Wife (2002)
The Technical Writer (2003)

Reference

Tatum O'Neal autobiography: A Paper Life - ISBN 0060540974.

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