Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com EW.com
    • All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
    • All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
    • All Music
    • Music Reviews
    • All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
    • All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
    • All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
    • All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
    • All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com EW.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Comic-Con 2022: Stars strike a pose in EW's photo studio

      Comic-Con 2022: Stars strike a pose in EW's photo studio

      From the casts of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever  and The Walking Dead  to Chris Pine and Regé Jean-Page, see who dropped by EW's Comic-Con headquarters at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. Read More
    • Power players: Inside The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

      Power players: Inside The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

      Go behind the scenes of Amazon Prime Video’s ambitious fantasy epic, which hopes to introduce J.R.R. Tolkien to a new generation. Read More
    • Biggest bombshells in unsealed Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard court docs: Erectile dysfunction, nude photos, and Marilyn Manson

      Biggest bombshells in unsealed Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard court docs: Erectile dysfunction, nude photos, and Marilyn Manson

      Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be more to learn about the high-profile defamation trial, more than 6,000 pages of court docs were released over the weekend. Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • What to Watch

    What to Watch

    See All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • BINGE

    BINGE

    See All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
  • The Awardist

    The Awardist

    See All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Movies
  3. Tatum O'Neal on Her Biggest Roles

Tatum O'Neal on Her Biggest Roles

The Oscar winner reminisces about 'The Bad News Bears,' her generation-defining role in 'Little Darlings,' and more.
By Nicole Sperling April 06, 2017 at 09:05 AM EDT
Skip gallery slides
FB

1 of 5

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Tatum O'Neal's Biggest Roles

Tatum O'Neal
Credit: Terry O'Neill/Getty Images

She was the It Girl of the decade — and is still the youngest actor ever to win an Academy Award, for her debut role opposite dad Ryan O'Neal in 1973's Paper Moon. O'Neal's mixture of bravura and preternatural wisdom catapulted her into a life she wasn't prepared for. Now 53 and sober after years of struggling with addiction, the actress looks back on those early years with a grim fondness — wistful that the opportunities she was afforded early on could have resulted in a different career had she benefited from a stronger support system.

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Paper Moon (1973)

GettyImages-782232.JPG
Credit: Julian Wasser/Liaison

To O’Neal, then 9 years old, starring in Paper Moon was a chance to be with her dad, skip school, and learn how to read well. She had no idea how much work it would require. "I hated the clothes they put me in," O’Neal says of the Depression-era dresses she wore. "I screamed and cried. They cut my hair funny. I didn’t understand why I had to wear such ugly little boots." Wardrobe challenges aside, O’Neal credits the success of the film to her director, Peter Bogdanovich, who she says walked her through every single take, every single scene. "I mimicked Peter throughout the whole film," O’Neal says. "He really should have gotten the Academy Award."

2 of 5

3 of 5

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

The Bad News Bears (1976)

THE BAD NEWS BEARS, Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, 1976.
Credit: Everett Collection

Tackling The Bad News Bears presented a different challenge for O'Neal. In addition to learning how to pitch in order to play the titular Little League team's confident heroine Amanda Whurlitzer, she was paired with Michael Ritchie, a director whose hands-off approach contrasted starkly with Bogdanovich's. "Michael wasn't going to tell me how to do every line. He wasn't going to tell me how to react," she says. "I just used my own personality."

Only 11 years old, O'Neal learned to rely on Walter Matthau, who, as the Bears' foulmouthed, beer-drinking coach Morris Buttermaker, gave her the encouragement she wasn't getting from her director. "Working with Walter was one of the highlights of my career," O'Neal says, though she still remembers how he frightened her during the iconic dugout scene in which the coach pushes Amanda away emotionally. "I was really scared when he yelled at me," she recalls. "I had never seen him like that. I was really upset, and it really hurt to have my elbow in the ice water."

3 of 5

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 5

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

International Velvet (1978)

Tatum O'Neal and Martin Neil in International Velvet
Credit: Everett Collection

Learning how to ride a horse and attempting a British accent are O'Neal's two most distinct memories from the underperforming sequel to the 1944 Elizabeth Taylor film National Velvet. Nanette Newman took over the role of Velvet Brown from Taylor, while O'Neal played the character's niece Sarah. The film was not particularly beloved, even among the cast. Anthony Hopkins, who played Sarah's trainer, went on the Johnny Carson show and said, "I've done a lot of great movies. International Velvet was not one of them."

The barb stung O'Neal at the time, but she still looks back warmly on her experience with the horses. "I had to do big jumps, and that was very hard and scary, but I was very confident as a rider," she says. "I never got thrown off the horse. I loved riding. I think I should have kept doing it. I would have had a much better life."

4 of 5

Advertisement

5 of 5

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Little Darlings (1980)

LITTLE DARLINGS, Kristy McNichol, Tatum O'Neal, 1980, (c) Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Credit: Everett Collection

The food fight. Matt Dillon's cuteness. Making fun of Armand Assante strutting around Georgia's Madison hotel in a leather weight-trimming belt. Those were the highlights of O'Neal's time on Hollywood's female answer to Meatballs. At age 15, O'Neal was losing her confidence, conscious of the differences between her and her fellow actors, who all seemed to have formally trained in New York. On top of that, she felt miscast as posh, prissy Ferris. Kristy McNichol's scrappy, streetwise Angel was more her speed. "I hated the fact that I played the rich girl," she says. "I think I could have done the other character better than I did Ferris."

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Nicole Sperling

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 5 Tatum O'Neal's Biggest Roles
    2 of 5 Paper Moon (1973)
    3 of 5 The Bad News Bears (1976)
    4 of 5 International Velvet (1978)
    5 of 5 Little Darlings (1980)

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    EW.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright EW.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    Tatum O'Neal on Her Biggest Roles
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.