A photo taken on July 22, 1982 shows US actress Farrah Fawcett (right) accompanied by her husband actor Ryan O'Neal (centre) and US singer and actress Liza Minnelli (left) during a night out in Monaco. Photo: AFP
Actor Ryan O’Neal’s cause of death has officially been revealed, roughly two weeks after he died at the age 82.
The Academy Award-nominated Love Story star died of congestive heart failure, after years of suffering from cardiomyopathy, according to his death certificate obtained by The Blast.
Cardiomyopathy is an overarching term for any disorder affecting the heart muscle, which causes it to lose the ability to effectively pump blood, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Potential causes of cardiomyopathy include alcohol abuse, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, viral infections and certain medications.
In 2001, O’Neal was diagnosed with leukemia, and in 2012, revealed he was battling stage 2 prostate cancer. However, his death certificate lists no other contributing factors in his passing.
O’Neal’s death was announced by his sportscaster son, Patrick O’Neal, on Dec. 8.
“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us,” Patrick wrote on Instagram. “My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. I looked up to him and he was always bigger than life.”
In a follow-up post, Patrick described his father as “the funniest person in any room. And the most handsome clearly, but also the most charming. Lethal combo. He loved to make people laugh.”
The two-time Golden Globe nominee was also father to actors Tatum and Griffin O’Neal, whom he shared with first wife Joanna Moore, as well as son Redmond with the late Farrah Fawcett. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
