Ron O'Neal - Life and Career

Life and Career

Ron O'Neal grew up in a working-class black neighborhood of Cleveland, the son of a former jazz musician who now earned his living as a factory worker; his father died when he was 16 years old. Only six months later his brother, who worked as a truck driver, was killed in an accident. Following these tragedies his mother found a job in a hospital in order to sustain the family. He graduated from Glenville High School, then attended Ohio State University, and there became interested in acting after seeing the play Finian's Rainbow. He joined the Karamu House company in Cleveland, Ohio, working with the oldest African-American theatre company in the US from 1957 until 1964, during which period he appeared in plays such as Kiss Me, Kate, A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Raisin in the Sun, working all the time as a housepinter for a living. In 1964, he went to New York, teaching acting classes at the Harlem Youth Arts Program and appearing in Off-Broadway plays.

In 1969, his theatrical breakthrough came in the Broadway play Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. In 1970, appearing in Charles Gordone's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, No Place to Be Somebody he garnered even more attention, winning an Obie Award and several other prizes. From there he moved on to cinema with two minor roles in Move (1970) and The Organization (1971), after which he was contacted by a friend from Cleveland, screenwriter Phillip Fenty, who suggested he star in an all-black film about a drug dealer. Although shot on a meagre budget this film, Super Fly, went on to become a major hit at the box office.

This success was followed by the sequel, Super Fly T.N.T. (1972), in which he starred and directed, yet it turned out to be a failure. After that, parts offered to him frequently were unfortunately limited to that of stereotypical characters such as pimp or drug dealer. In 1975 he returned to Broadway, starring in All Over Town under the direction of Dustin Hoffman and he also appeared in Shakespeare plays during the 1970s, including Othello, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew.

During those years flim roles that went beyond stock characters were few and far between, notable exceptions being his role in Brothers (1977) and in the TV miniseries The Sophisticated Gents (1981). He had a number of TV guest appearances, frequently playing a detective. In 1996 he appeared in the Blaxpoitation reunion film Original Gangstas.