Griffin O'Neal

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Griffin O'Neal
Born	Griffin Patrick O'Neal October 28, 1964 (1964-10-28) (age 45) Los Angeles, California
Years active	1976 - 1992
Spouse(s)	Rima Belinda Uranga (1989-)

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

Life

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 divorced two years later after having daughter, Dillan O'Neal.

Griffin has appeared in films including April Fool's Day, Assault of the Killer Bimbos and Ghoulies III.

Like many of his family members, O'Neal has struggled with substance abuse. In 1986 a boating accident took the life of Francis Ford Coppola's son Gian-Carlo Coppola. O'Neal, who was driving the boat, attempted to pass between two slow-moving boats, failing to realize 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.^[1] At the time of the incident, O'Neal was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola in Gardens of Stone and was replaced. A law was subsequently passed requiring boats to use shorter towlines and that they be clearly flagged. O'Neal was later acquitted of manslaughter in Gian's death, but was convicted on one count of negligently operating a boat. 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. ^[2]

On the morning of February 3rd, 2007, Griffin was involved in an incident where his father Ryan was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence. The two parties give different accounts of what happened that night. Griffin claims that his father took a fireplace poker and attacked Griffin's 8-months pregnant wife, and then shot him during a drug- and alcohol-fueled tirade. Ryan claims that it was his son who was on drugs and swinging the fireplace poker at him, and that it accidentally struck his wife in the face. At that point, Ryan claims to have gone to his bedroom to get a gun in self-defense, and fired it into the banister to scare his son off. At some point Griffin's wife called 911 and asked for immediate emergency help. When she went to the hospital she received 10 stitches. There were four facial fractures and damage to her left eye.

On June 30, 2009 while trying to attend the funeral of Farrah Fawcett at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in downtown Los Angeles, California, Griffin O'Neal was refused entry. Ryan O'Neal was later quoted about the incident as saying it was he who refused to allow his son to attend because he thought that "[his son] is not a nice man."

References

External links

• Griffin O'Neal at the Internet Movie Database
• Griffin O'Neal at Yahoo movies
• Interview with Larry King, first aired Aug. 3, 2009

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