The Legal Battle Over Warhol’s Farrah Fawcett Portrait
Warhol painting of Fawcett at UT Austin by Ethan Lungaard on Flickr
Andy Warhol produced two silkscreen portraits of the late Farrah Fawcett, but only one was turned over to the University of Texas at Austin per her wishes, claims the school. Accordingly, they’re suing Ryan O’Neal, Fawcett’s longtime companion, who the university alleges has the other one, to recover it.
Fawcett attended UT Austin in the 1960s, and once she gained fame as an actress through Charlie’s Angels, Warhol created the portraits, which, UT Austin claims, Fawcett kept until her June 2009 death. The complaint (PDF) states that via the Fawcett living trust, “Fawcett left all of her artwork and objects of art to UT Austin.” The trust, however, does not specifically name the items contained therein.
At some point, the school claims it discovered that O’Neal had kept the missing portrait and possibly other works of art that, according to the trust, now rightfully belong to the university, and the school is suing him to get them.
The complaint states, “Mr. O’Neal was not included in Ms. Fawcett’s will, nor in the Fawcett Living Trust, and Ms. Fawcett’s express wishes as stated in the Fawcett living trust have been thwarted by [O'Neal's] conversion. UT Austin files this lawsuit to recover the missing portrait that Ms. Fawcett left to her alma mater.”
In an interesting twist, O’Neal has now sued a former assistant of Fawcett’s for defamation for $1 million in damages, alleging that Craig Nevius made “false, malicious, and defamatory accusations” regarding the status of the missing portrait.
Indeed, O’Neal claims that it is these statements upon which the university relies as the basis of its lawsuit. O’Neal counters that the portrait belongs to him as it was a gift—there are conflicting media reports as to whether the gift was from Warhol or Fawcett; O’Neal has said he expects to be “completely vindicated in the courts.”
One might imagine that if the painting has belonged to O’Neal that he might have gotten it insured—Warhol’s iconic images can be worth in the tens of millions of dollars—which could be proof positive that the portrait wasn’t included in Fawcett’s trust.
For his part, Nevius has both denied saying that O’Neal stole the silkscreen and has been quoted as saying that O’Neal’s lawsuit is simply a way to try to “harass [him] into silence.”
So, just in case you needed another reason to make sure your will and trust documents are properly drafted, may we present Exhibit A? This is not just not the kind of lawsuit you want your estate to be tied up in after your death.
Stay tuned!
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Ok, so this is because her will wasn’t properly drafted?
Julie
16 Sep 11 at 2:33 pm
Hi Julie, it looks like this could have been avoided if the estate planning documents in question were more specific as to exactly which items were included. Generalities such as “all my art goes to X” or “all my jewelry goes to X” certainly does leave open the possibility that someone other than X could get in there before anyone knows what’s even in the estate, take what s/he wants, and then later, if challenged, claim that the decedent had gifted those items before death. I’m *not* saying that’s what happened here, but it’s a good idea to be as specific as possible in a will or other estate planning document if you want to be absolutely sure that particular items go to specific people. Thanks for commenting!
Michelle Fabio
19 Sep 11 at 8:12 am
Ryan O’Neal’s name is misspelled (twice) on your Best of 2011 page (it’s spelled Ryan O’Neil).
Mimi
30 Dec 11 at 7:54 am
“Ryan O’Neil Sued Over Warhol Paintings”
It’s O’Neal, not O’Neil! Doesn’t anyone Proofread or Spell-check anymore. Looks foolish and hurts your credibility to make mistakes like this!
lol
PatrickLA
30 Dec 11 at 8:13 am
Texas sucks.
Based on my personal opinion & experience from living there and now this stupidity, just another of the million stupidities that come out of that state.
Leave the man alone! He lost his love!
Try some common sense! Oh, right. Texas! none of that there! Poor students are being taught to be jerks at UT!
As if this isn’t being propelled by plain old fashioned Texas greed! As if Texans respect the art of a gay artist!
Hilarious!
pauline
30 Dec 11 at 11:02 am
SCREW UT. Quite frankly screw Ryan O’Neil to! He is an arrogant bastard. The painting should be held in trust for her son Redmond. With what they are worth I am surprised she didn’t leave the bulk of her estate to her son considering they are worth 30+ million dollars each!
David Webb
6 Oct 12 at 4:43 pm