Los Angeles: The son of actor Ryan O'Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett has been charged with attempted murder and assault in what police called a series of violent and unprovoked attacks in Los Angeles.

In the most serious incidents, Redmond James O'Neal allegedly stabbed a man in the side near the Venice Beach boardwalk on May 4, then later that night stabbed another man, inflicting serious wounds and cuts to his face, neck and upper body, police said.

O'Neal, 33, was arrested on May 8 on suspicion of armed robbery after a heist at a 7-Eleven store. He matched the description - red-haired with distinctive tattoos - of the man in the earlier attacks, police said.

O'Neal has a history of drug arrests dating to 2005. In 2008, authorities charged him and his father on suspicion of felony drug possession after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies conducted a probation search of the actor's Malibu home said found methamphetamine on Redmond and in his father's bedroom.

Ryan O'Neal, 77, was nominated for an Oscar for the 1970 movie Love Story, starred in Paper Moon and Barry Lyndon and more recently had a recurring role in the TV series Bones.