Ryan O’Neal, the Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor, has been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly assaulting his adult son with a handgun during a family row at his home in the star-studded district of Malibu.

The 65-year-old actor, who starred in the 1970 hit film Love Story, was detained after police and paramedics were called to his house in the early hours of Saturday “regarding a battery that had occurred,” according to John Benedict, LA County Sheriff.

He was arrested, accused of assaulting his son Griffin, 42, with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm, and was released on bail of $50,000 after five hours in custody.

No one was injured from use of the weapon but a 22-year-old woman – said to be Griffin O’Neal’s girlfriend - was slightly hurt in the incident, treated at a hospital and subsequently released.

Neil Hassman, manager of the elder O’Neal, said the woman was pregnant and claimed that her injuries were caused by the son, whom he said had begun “wildly swinging a fireplace poker”, forcing his father to defend himself, reported The Associated Press.

“It is unfortunate that what should have been an internal family disagreement was escalated to the point that Ryan felt he had to defend himself from Griffin’s aggressive, extremely menacing physical behaviour,” he said in a statement to The Insider, an entertainment television programme.

Mr Hassman added that the dispute had taken place after O’Neal, the actress Farrah Fawcett and some other friends returned from a dinner to celebrate her birthday. O’Neal was romantically involved with Fawcett for a number of years and has another son, Redmond, with the actress.

Known for his boyish good looks, O’Neal rose to fame in the 1970s, going from a TV soap opera to wooing audiences as Oliver Barrett IV in the Oscar-winning Love Story. He went on to star in films such as Paper Moon, Barry Lyndon, Green Ice and Zero Effect. More recently, he has made a number of television appearances, including in the popular series Desperate Housewives.

In 2001, he was diagnosed with a chronic but treatable form of leukaemia and made media appearances in the last year to talk about his support for Fawcett in her own battle with cancer.

Griffin, whose own acting career never attained the success of his father’s, is O’Neal’s son from his first wife, Joanna Moore. His sister is Tatum O’Neal, who also starred in Paper Moon, winning an Oscar for best supporting actress.

Father and son have been rumoured to have a tempestuous relationship and Griffin has had a history of problems with substance abuse and the law. He previously served 18 days in prison for failing to perform community service after a judge found him guilty of reckless boating in a 1986 accident that killed Gian-Carlo Coppola, the son of Francis Ford Coppola, the director.

In 1989, he was sentenced to probation after being charged with drunken driving and three years later agreed to spend a year in drug rehabilitation after being charged with shooting at his estranged girlfriend’s unoccupied car.

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