Ryan O'Neal offers grim outlook on Farrah Fawcett

* Companion says Farrah Fawcett cancer treatment near end

* People magazine says actress is "hauntingly gaunt"

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES, May 7 (Reuters) - Actor Ryan O'Neal has told People magazine that his companion Farrah Fawcett, who has battled cancer for nearly three years, is now bed-ridden, bereft of her famous blonde hair and near the end of medical treatment.

"She stays in bed now. The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment. The treatment has pretty much ended," O'Neal told People in an interview on the magazine's website on Thursday.

Fawcett, 62, became an international sex symbol in the 1970s for her famous swimsuit poster and her role as one of a trio of female private detectives on the hit television show "Charlie's Angels."

She has stayed in the Hollywood spotlight ever since, and in September 2006 was diagnosed with anal cancer. Four months later, she declared herself cancer free, but the disease returned in May 2007.

O'Neal, himself a 1970s sex symbol and the father of Fawcett's son, Redmond O'Neal, has been Fawcett's on-again, off-again companion for many years.

He said the Texas-born Fawcett has now lost all the tousled blonde hair that drew the attention of her legions of fans. O'Neal keeps her locks at his home.