HAPPIER TIMES: Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett in Deauville, France in 1984. (Rex USA)
(
)
Ryan O’Neal has been ordered to stand trial over a disputed Andy Warhol silkscreen of the late Farrah Fawcett valued at $30 million.
An LA superior court judge Wednesday tossed O’Neal’s motion to dismiss a 2011 lawsuit brought against him by the University of Texas, according to celebuzz.com.
The university claims the silkscreen, one of two made by Warhol in 1980, belongs to them as part of the artwork Fawcett bequeathed to them. (Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1965-68, but did not graduate.)
While the university has one of the silkscreens hanging in its art gallery in Austin, O’Neal, 71, claims the other silkscreen was “given to him by Farrah” — and that he owns it outright.
The silkscreen in O’Neal’s possession was seen hanging over the bed in his Malibu beach house in the premiere of his 2011 OWN reality series, “Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals,” in which he starred with his daughter, Tatum. The short-lived series aired for only eight episodes.
Fawcett, who shot to fame in ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels,” died in June 2009 at the age of 62 after a battle with cancer.
Her long-term relationship with O’Neal — with whom she had a son, Redmond — ended in 1997.
O’Neal’s trial is scheduled to begin next month.