Although his career began as the studio system was winding down, and his personal life was plagued by the excesses of the modern age, Ryan O’Neal sometimes seemed like the last actor of the Golden Age.

When Hollywood wanted a leading man with charm and command, they called on O’Neal. He was the tragic romantic in Love Story, the Cary Grant-like farceur in What’s Up, Doc?, and the only actor of his generation to successfully anchor a sprawling, old-fashioned period epic with Barry Lyndon.