Ryan O’Neal and Mozart the dog

Ryan O’Neal is an American actor best known for his appearances in the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place. O’Neal made his feature film debut in Elmore Leonard’s The Big Bounce (1969). O’Neal went on to make Twentieth Century Fox’s The Games (1970), where he first met writer/marathon runner, Erich Segal. His big break soon followed when he was chosen from more than 300 hopefuls for the role of Oliver Barrett opposite Ali MacGraw in Arthur Hiller’s adaptation of Erich Segal’s best-seller Love Story in 1970. The film was a huge success and landed O’Neal both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. His subsequent roles included such films as Paper Moon (1973), Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and What’s Up Doc (1971). Since 2007 O’Neal has had a recurring role in the TV series Bones.