Ali MacGraw ‘What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me?’ Probably one of the best known opening lines of a movie in the last century, along with the hook line ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry’, both from the romantic tragedy ‘Love Story’ The star of ‘Love Story’, Ali MacGraw, was born on April 1st 1938 in Pound Ridge New York to Irish-American parents who were both artists and set Ali onto the same path until her fashion, modeling and acting talents were spotted. Ali had one sibling, a brother. Ali attended Wellesley College and took up her first position in the work force at Harper’s Bazaar magazine as an assistant and at Vogue magazine, as a fashion model and as a photographer’s stylist. In 1969, while embarking on her acting career, Ali met her second husband, Robert Evans who at the time was a Paramount executive who she went on to marry in 1971. The marriage was only to last for two years but together the couple had a son, Josh Evans. Her marriage to Robert broke down when she starred in ‘The Getaway’ with Steve McQueen whom she married in August 1973 but once again the marriage struggled and within five years the couple divorced. Although Ali had appeared in a handful of movies in Hollywood her big break came in 1970 when she starred in ‘Love Story’ with Ryan ONeal and Ray Milland. Her role in the movie earned her a Best Actress nomination in 1970 but she lost out to Glenda Jackson who won the award that year for her role in ‘Women in Love’ which also starred British actor Oliver Reed.
With the loss of the Best Actress award and losing the role of Daisy Buchanan to Mia Farrow, in the 1974 production of ‘The Great Gatsby’, MacGraw took a four-year sabbatical from films. After her sabbatical Ali MacGraw returned to the big screen and appeared in several other movies including ‘Convoy’ with Kris Kristofferson, ‘Players’ with Whoopi Goldberg, Lyle Lovett, Sydney Pollack and Vincent D’Onofrio, ‘Just Tell Me What You Want’ with Alan King and Tony Roberts and the television miniseries ‘China Rose’ with George C Scott and ‘The Winds of War’ with Elizabeth Hoffman and Robert Mitchum . In 1985 Ali appeared for a brief period as Lady Ashley Mitchell in ‘The Colby’s’ along with John James, Stephanie Beecham, Charleton Heston, Barbara Stanwick and Emma Samms. In the 1990’s Ali struggled with a dependency on alcohol and sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center. 2006 saw Ali MacGraw making her Broadway debut in "Festen," the London stage hit that also starred Larry Bryggman, Michael Hayden and Julianna Margulies in New York. ABB | 
