A Star Is Waiting

Ryan O'Neal has been unusually quiet lately. He finished his work on Barry Lyndon in July 1974 and, despite numerous offers, has avoided work since, so convinced is he that the film will radically change his image with the public and his standing in the movie business.

Not that there is anything especially wrong with either.

Now 34, he has had three hits in five years in romantic and light comic roles (Love Story, What's Up, Doc? and Paper Moon, in which his daughter stole the show). He is generally regarded by movie people as a hard-working actor and an agreeable off-the-set companion. It is just that in a career that began in early '60s television and got rolling with a five-year stint on Peyton Place, Ryan has never known anyone quite like Stanley Kubrick. "God, he works you hard," he wrote in the diary he kept all during the ten months he was before the cameras. "He moves you, pushes you, helps you, gets cross with you, but above all he teaches you the value of a good director."

Never having worked with a world-class director, O'Neal eagerly underwent something like a conversion. "Stanley brought out aspects of my personality and acting instincts that had been dormant. I had to deliver up everything he wanted, and he wanted just about everything I had."

Not only was the work demanding; it was also uncomfortable. It took O'Neal into the remoter corners of Ireland and England--not exactly the natural habitat of a fellow who does enjoy the occasional comforts of a bird and a bolte. Nevertheless, he was sustained by "my strong suspicion that I was involved in something great."

Whether or not his patient faith in Lyndon will be rewarded is a nice question. There is no doubt that Kubrick permitted him to explore a wider range of emotions than he ever has on screen. There is no doubt either that his performance is technically expert. On the other hand, he has been carefully muted by the director. O'Neal, who has finally decided to go back to work in January with Tatum and Burt Reynolds in a new Peter Bogdanovitch film, could be disappointed in the response his hard work generates. "The real star of a Kubrick movie is Stanley Kubrick" is Producer Ray Stark's shrewd comment, implying that O'Neal's hope for the role may be in vain.

If so, he will still have an improved talent and some warm memories to console him. Once, after days of effort, he finally managed to deliver exactly what Kubrick wanted in a difficult scene. "He found a way to walk past me, giving instructions to the crew--'Let's move on to 32, move those lights into the foreground,' and so on--but as he passed me, he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. It was the most beautiful and appreciated gesture in my life. It was the greatest moment in my career."

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