Actor, director and screenwriter, Ron O’Neal 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 on September 1, 1937, rose to fame in his role as Youngblood Priest in the classic 1972 film Super Fly and its sequel Super Fly T.N.T. (1973).

O’Neal grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Ohio State University, where he became interested in acting. He joined the Karamu House company in Cleveland, the oldest Black theatre company in the U.S. from 1957 until 1964 while working as a housepainter to earn his living. In 1964, he moved to New York, first teaching acting classes at the Harlem Youth Arts Program and then appearing in Off-Broadway plays.

In 1969, O’Neal starred in the Broadway play Ceremonies in Dark Old Men and in the Charles Gordone Pulitzer Prize-winning play No Place to Be Somebody, winning an Obie Award and several other prizes. From there, he moved into feature film roles with Move (1970) and The Organization (1971), costarring along side Sidney Poitier.

Shot on a meager budget, the film, Super Fly (1972), went on to become a major hit at the box office. In 1975, he returned to Broadway, starring in All Over Town under the direction of Dustin Hoffman and he also appeared in Shakespeare’s, Othello, Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew.

With roles in the film Brothers (1977), the television movie Brave New World (1980), and the miniseries The Sophisticated Gents (1981), Ron O’Neal had several television guest appearances including A Different World. In 1996, he appeared in the action reunion film Original Gangstas, featuring Jim Brown and Fred Williamson.

O’Neal was first married to actress Carol Tillery Banks, from November 1973 until 1980 (divorced), and then to Audrey Pool, from 1993 until his death on January 14, 2004. The Wu-Tang Clan’s 2014 album A Better Tomorrow includes a tribute song titled “Ron O’Neal”.