Ali MacGraw: The Iconic ’70s It Girl Who Defined Romance in Love Story
She was one of the most ubiquitous faces of the ’70s, as famous for her acting as she was for her style.
For a generation of women, Ali MacGraw was the ultimate It girl, and it’s largely thanks to one movie: Love Story.
The story of a doomed romance between two college students was a box office smash, and the chemistry between MacGraw and late co-star Ryan O’Neal had audiences captivated.
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As she hasn’t been in the spotlight much in recent years, fans were delighted when the actress emerged in New York last week for a hotel function.
So, let’s take a look back at her career.
Starting with a bang
MacGraw got her start in the world of magazines and modelling. She spent six years as photographic assistant at Harper’s Bazaar before moving into modelling work at Vogue and in TV ads.
Then, her acting career began with a bang in the late ’60s.
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MacGraw starred in 1969’s Goodbye, Columbus, which won her a Golden Globe – not a bad effort for her second-ever movie role.
This momentum continued the following year with the romance movie Love Story, an adaptation of a novel.
In 1972, with three movies to her name, she scored a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honour some actors only receive after years of work.
Love Story for the ages
Long before Leo and Kate in Titanic and Rachel and Ryan in The Notebook, it was MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal who had movie lovers sobbing into their popcorn.
The movie had a huge, lasting impact on pop culture, remaining one of Hollywood’s definitive romance films to this day.
MacGraw’s depiction of working-class college student Jennifer Cavilleri earned the star her first Oscar nomination and another Golden Globe award, this time for best actress.
“We didn’t have to build chemistry. It was there, built in,” O’Neal said in 2021 of the pair’s on-screen dynamic as Oliver Barrett and Jennifer Cavilleri.
“I had no idea up until the night we saw it, and the whole audience was crying at the end,” MacGraw added.
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The two stars remained friends long after the movie’s release, and even reunited professionally in 2015 for a Broadway production.
Following O’Neal’s death in 2023, MacGraw remembered him as “a skilled actor, charming and funny too”.
“Working with Ryan, all those years ago, was one of the great experiences of my film career, and we remained friends ever after,” she said.
“I know that a huge part of my success was due to his generosity as my co-star.”
A tumultuous romance
MacGraw’s blossoming career wasn’t the only thing she made headlines for in the early ’70s.
The actress’ role in 1972 action thriller The Getaway introduced her to Steve McQueen, whom she immediately became “obsessed” with.
Only issue was, she was already married.
The pair began an affair, which ended MacGraw’s three-year marriage to producer Robert Evans, who had cast her in Love Story. The couple shared a son.
MacGraw once described the relationship with McQueen as “chemical”, even admitting, “I knew I was going to get in some serious trouble with Steve.”
“This was a man who could walk into any room and [any] man, woman and child would go, ‘Whoa, what’s that?’ And I was no exception,” she said.
“He was incredibly attractive most of the time but there was also danger, there was [a] bad boy there.”
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The actors married in 1973, and their marriage was tumultuous, ultimately putting MacGraw’s blossoming career on hold.
“He was the biggest movie star in the world and he didn’t want me to work. So I essentially quit making movies and took care of my child,” she said in a 2022 interview.
MacGraw and McQueen also both struggled with alcohol addiction.
MacGraw in 1982. (Getty)
MacGraw in 1982. (Getty)A big comeback
In 1977, when she aired her desire to return to acting, McQueen told MacGraw it was over.
She returned to screens the following year, and the couple filed for divorce. McQueen died in 1980.
In the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, MacGraw picked up roles in a handful of movies and TV shows, including a 14-episode run on the iconic 1980s show Dynasty.
In 2006 she took her acting to the stage, making her debut on Broadway. Ten years later, she reunited with Love Story co-star Ryan O’Neal in a production of Love Letters.
However, her acting work eventually petered out, with her last screen credit coming in 2012 with a narration role.
In 1991, the actress released a memoir, in which she detailed her struggles with alcoholism and sex addiction, reflecting on her time in treatment at the famed Betty Ford Clinic.
During the ’90s, MacGraw became an early champion for yoga in the US, even creating an instructional video called Ali MacGraw Yoga Mind and Body.
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She’s also become known in recent years for her advocacy work, particularly in the field of animal welfare.
On February 12, she attended an event at New York’s The Lowell hotel in celebration of Valentine’s Day, marking a relatively rare public appearance for the star.
