Griffin O'Neal

Infobox Actor

---

name = Griffin O'Neal
birthname = Griffin Patrick O'Neal
birthdate = birth date and age|1964|10|28
location = Los Angeles, California
spouse = Rima Belinda Uranga (1989-)
yearsactive = 1976 - 1992

Griffin Patrick O'Neal (born October 28, 1964) is an American actor.

O'Neal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Ryan O'Neal and actress Joanna Cook Moore (née Dorothy Cook). He has one sister, Tatum, and two half brothers, Patrick and Redmond. O'Neal married Rima Belinda Uranga in 1989 and has one daughter named Dillan O'Neal.

Like many of his family members, O'Neal has struggled with substance abuse. This led to a tragic boating accident in May 1986 that took the life of Francis Ford Coppola's son Gian-Carlo Coppola. O'Neal, who was driving the boat while using drugs, attempted to pass between two slow-moving boats, failing to realize in his haste that the two boats were connected by a towline. While he barely had time to duck, Coppola was struck, throwing his body to the metal deck, sustaining head injuries. [Tatum O'Neal, "A Paper Life", 0-060-75102-9 p. 158] At the time of the incident, O'Neal was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola in "Gardens of Stone" and was subsequently replaced. O'Neal was later charged with manslaughter over the tragedy. He was ultimately fined $200 and sentenced to 18 months probation in 1987, eventually receiving an 18-day jail sentence for not performing 400 hours of community service as ordered. [http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=40e133f3-4016-44dd-9396-85ef7c0e8860 E! News - 911 Calls Released in O'Neal Case - Farrah Fawcett ] ]

Ryan O'Neal has said that it was Griffin who instigated the incident that led to Ryan's arrest on suspicion of assault early in the morning of February 3, 2007. Ryan accused Griffin of "wildly swinging a fireplace poker" at him, an action that allegedly caused an injury to Griffin's 22 year old pregnant girlfriend, JoAnne Berry. O'Neal in an interview with the Los Angeles Times charges that his son grazed him "four or five times" with the fireplace poker and that when he ducked to avoid the swinging weapon, Griffin "hit his own girlfriend in the head." O'Neal adds that he got "nervous" because of the woman's pregnancy. "I fled to my room," he says, "and I got my gun." When Griffin pursued him anew, says Ryan, he fired his gun "into the banister" to scare Griffin into fleeing.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0641906|name=Griffin O'Neal
* [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800028520 Griffin O'Neal] at Yahoo movies