The lacertid OJ 287 has undergone a five-year optical outburst from which it is still declining. Photographic UBV photometry throughout the declining phase has shown that the color of OJ 287 remained remarkably constant despite a 3-magnitude drop in brightness. There were, however, significant short-term excursions about the mean color, which is represented by the indices (U-B) = -0 ni 65 and (B-V) = 0™39. A smaller number of infrared (I) measurements show the same general trend.