O'Neal began popping up on TV with some regularity beginning with the historical miniseries 'Freedom Road' (NBC, 1979). O'Neal finished out the decade with substantial roles in such unremarkable genre fare as the 1975 Western 'The Master Gunfighter' (paired with Tom 'Billy Jack' Laughlin), a thriller 'When a Stranger Calls' and the Chuck Norris actioner 'A Force of One' (both 1979). The promising actor's nascent film career never recovered from this early setback. The film was generally deemed a disaster.

The success of this story of an outlaw's last big score generated the inevitable sequel, 'Super Fly T.N.T.' (1973), but surprisingly, O'Neal now occupied the director's chair and provided the politically-themed story. Dismissed by some as just more 'blaxploitation' fodder and damned by others for its supposed glorification of criminal behavior, 'Superfly' was embraced by audiences and became a surprise hit. Here he permits himself to indulge in unbecomingly effete mannerisms-arms frequently akimbo, hipswinging as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other while standing, arched eyebrows and petulantly heavy-lidded gazes-while his wardrobe descends from 'SuperFly's' high style to high camp.' -From VARIETY review of 'SuperFly T.N.T.', June 20, 1973.Ī tall, handsome and light-complected African-American player of stage and screen, Ron O'Neal first gained some measure of prominence with his portrayal of Youngblood Priest, the cool, resourceful and stylishly dressed cocaine dealer protagonist of 'Superfly' (1972). As with many actors, however, he needs strong directorial guidance to curb his less attractive excesses. 'On the basis of 'SuperFly', many predicted that O'Neal would become the biggest black star since Sidney Poitier: he has the looks, screen presence, raging vitality and acting ability to carve a niche for himself in screen history. Ron O'Neal lives the part with a kind of furious authority that is sometimes excessive more often expressive of of a role that belongs as much to current myth as to reality.' -From review of 'Super Fly' by Roger Greenspun, THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 5, 1972. 'Tall, handsome, with flowing hair and coat, with flashing eyes, and a gold cross around his neck that he uses to sniff his own cocaine, Priest must embody a lifetime of fantasies, with his mammoth car, his apartment downtown, his rich and elegant women.

Superfly cast