(1972); Paper Moon (1973), which earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy; Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), in which he portrayed the titular character; Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977); and Walter Hill's The Driver (1978).

From 2005 to 2017, he had a recurring role in the Fox television series Bones as Max, the father of the show's eponymous protagonist.

[7] O'Neal attended University High School in Los Angeles, and trained there to become a Golden Gloves boxer.

[10] In Germany, O'Neal was struggling at school, so his mother pulled some favors and got him a job as a stand-in on a show being shot in the area, Tales of the Vikings.

He made his first television appearance guest starring on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis episode "The Hunger Strike" in 1960.

He followed this with guest slots on The Untouchables, General Electric Theater, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Laramie, Two Faces West, Westinghouse Playhouse (several episodes), Bachelor Father, My Three Sons, Leave It to Beaver episode "Wally Goes Steady" in 1961, and The Virginian.

[13] From 1962 to 1963, O'Neal was a regular on NBC's Empire, a modern-day western, where he played "Tal Garrett" in support of Richard Egan.

Several were offered movie roles, including Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby (1968), and Barbara Parkins, Valley of the Dolls (1967), and O'Neal was keen to do films.

A number of actors had turned down the role including Beau Bridges and Jon Voight before it was offered to O'Neal.

His fee was $25,000; he said he had an offer that paid five times as much to appear in a Jerry Lewis film, but O'Neal knew that Love Story was the better prospect and selected that instead.

"[23] Love Story turned out to be a box office phenomenon, making O'Neal a star and earning him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, although O'Neal was bitter that he was never given a percentage of the profits, unlike co-star Ali MacGraw.

[28] Director Nic Roeg wanted O'Neal to appear opposite Julie Christie in an adaptation of Out of Africa that was never made.

His performance in the film earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and he was voted by exhibitors as the second-most-popular star of 1973 in the United States, behind Clint Eastwood.

[32] O'Neal had been originally meant to star in Bogdanovich's flop musical At Long Last Love but was replaced by Burt Reynolds.

O'Neal followed this with a small role in the all-star war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), playing General James Gavin.

I'll get there..."[26] Around this time, O'Neal was meant to star in The Bodyguard, from a Lawrence Kasdan script, opposite Diana Ross for director John Boorman.

[38] A 1980 profile of O'Neal described him: Unlike most stars of the post-Hoffman era he is very handsome, especially when moustached: he has blond curly hair and a toothpaste smile: he seems to lead an interesting life.

[39]O'Neal was looking next to act in the lead role in the film version of The Thorn Birds to be directed by Arthur Hiller, but the book ended up being adapted as a miniseries.

O'Neal said Burton told him during filming he was "five years away from winning acceptance as a serious actor" ... [and that] .. "On the other hand, my agent, Sue Mengers says I'm right on the threshold.

[42] This was followed by Partners (1982), a farce written by Francis Veber in which O'Neal played a straight cop who goes undercover as one half of a gay couple.

He then played a film director loosely based on Peter Bogdanovich in Irreconcilable Differences (1984); he received no upfront fee but got a percentage of the profits.

A 1984 profile called him "the Billy Martin of Hollywood, whether it's his love affair with Farrah Fawcett... his precocious actor daughter Tatum or fisticuffs with his son Griffin.

I made a whole bunch of pictures that didn't make any money and people lost interest in me... Directors take me reluctantly.

"[25] In 1985, O'Neal tried something different, playing an L.A. Herald Examiner sportswriter and sports columnist who also gambles far too much in Fever Pitch (1985),[45] the final movie for director Richard Brooks.

O'Neal had a regular part on the TV series Miss Match (2003) with Alicia Silverstone, which ran for 18 episodes.

[50] In February 2021, O'Neal and MacGraw were honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, nearly 50 years after the release of Love Story.

"[32] He had romances with Ursula Andress, Bianca Jagger, Anouk Aimée, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbra Streisand, Joan Collins, Diana Ross, and Anjelica Huston.

In August of that year, O'Neal, Tatum, and Patrick attended Redmond's court appearance on firearms and drug charges.

[63] In 2018, Redmond was arrested and charged with attempted murder, robbery, assault and drug possession after he allegedly tried to rob a convenience store in Santa Monica.

[67] O'Neal died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on December 8, 2023, at the age of 82.