# Ali MacGraw
**Ali MacGraw** (Elizabeth Alice MacGraw; born April 1, 1939, in [Pound Ridge, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/pound-ridge-new-york)) is an American actress, model, and author who became one of the defining film stars of the early 1970s, most widely known for her Oscar-nominated role as Jenny Cavilleri in *[Love Story](https://www.edgepedia.org/love-story-1970-film)* (1970).[1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532298/awards/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | April 1, 1939, Pound Ridge, New York; full name Elizabeth Alice MacGraw[1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) |
| Breakthrough | First starring role as Brenda Patimkin in *Goodbye, Columbus* (1969), winning the Golden Globe as New Star of the Year
Actress in 1970[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/10783-Ali-MacGraw?cp=1&cxt=Cast2&pos=3&sid=a75c1269-5972-4807-aab6-348ba063785d&sr=0.14620619) • [1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) |
| Signature role | Jenny Cavilleri in *Love Story* (1970): Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532298/awards/) |
| *Love Story* box office | Earned over $100 million domestically, spent 15 weeks at #1 in the U.S., and received seven Oscar nominations[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) |
| Other films | *The Getaway* (1972) with Steve McQueen, *Convoy* (1978) with Kris Kristofferson, *Players* (1979), *Just Tell Me What You Want* (1980)[1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) |
| Television | *The Winds of War* (1983) and *Dynasty* (1985)[1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) |
| Memoir | *Moving Pictures* (1991), a New York Times bestseller[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) |
| Recognition | Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, February 12, 2021, in a double ceremony with Ryan O'Neal[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532298/awards/) |
## Early life and fashion career
MacGraw grew up in Pound Ridge, a town in [Westchester County, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/westchester-county-new-york). She studied art history at [Wellesley College](https://www.edgepedia.org/wellesley-college) and began her professional career in 1960 as an assistant to [Diana Vreeland](https://www.edgepedia.org/diana-vreeland), the fashion editor, at *Harper's Bazaar*.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) After leaving the magazine she worked for six years as a stylist for the fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky in New York, and she later became a fashion model herself.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) • [5](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ali-macgraw_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
She later described her path to acting as accidental. Producer Stanley R. Jaffe and director Larry Peerce offered her the leading role of Brenda Patimkin in the screen version of [Philip Roth](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-roth)'s short novel *Goodbye, Columbus*; she had taken a small part in *A Lovely Way to Die* (1968) the year before.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/10783-Ali-MacGraw?cp=1&cxt=Cast2&pos=3&sid=a75c1269-5972-4807-aab6-348ba063785d&sr=0.14620619) In a 2024 interview she recalled that she had never trained as an actress: "I was never trained as an actress. It was frightening for me, every single solitary breathing second."[6](https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/ali-macgraw-celebrity-interview-news-2017/)
## Stardom with Love Story
*Goodbye, Columbus* (1969), a comedy-drama adapted from Roth's novella, made MacGraw an instant screen star at about age 30 and earned her the Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer at the 1970 ceremony.[7](https://time.com/archive/6814566/show-business-ali-macgraw-a-return-to-basics/) • [1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/) Her second starring role, as the doomed Jenny Cavilleri opposite [Ryan O'Neal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ryan-oneal) in *Love Story* (1970), directed by [Arthur Hiller](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-hiller) and written by Erich Segal from his best-selling novel, made her a household name.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/)
The film was a phenomenon. It earned more than $100 million at the domestic box office, spent 15 weeks at #1 in the United States, and became the top-grossing movie of its year; it received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) MacGraw and O'Neal were both nominated for acting Oscars, and MacGraw won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama in 1971.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532298/awards/) • [8](https://goldenglobes.com/articles/tomorrows-stars-yesterday-ali-macgraw-1970/) She appeared on the covers of *Time*, *Look*, *Harper's Bazaar*, and *Paris Match*, and the critic Joyce Haber called her "the biggest female star since Marilyn Monroe."[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/06/18/the-regrets-of-the-real-ali-macgraw/216f74d4-80b0-4452-b076-56827480dfb6/) In 2002 the [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute) placed *Love Story* at number 9 on its list of the 100 greatest love stories of all time.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/)
## Later film and television work
Her third picture, *The Getaway* (1972), directed by [Sam Peckinpah](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-peckinpah) and co-starring [Steve McQueen](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-mcqueen), whom she later married, completed what the Walk of Fame biography calls her trio of blockbuster films.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) After *The Getaway* she took a five-year hiatus from Hollywood to raise her son, Josh, then returned in Peckinpah's *Convoy* (1978) with [Kris Kristofferson](https://www.edgepedia.org/kris-kristofferson).[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) • [9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/06/18/the-regrets-of-the-real-ali-macgraw/216f74d4-80b0-4452-b076-56827480dfb6/) The films *Players* (1979) and *Just Tell Me What You Want* (1980), directed by Sidney Lumet, followed.[1](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/)
For much of the 1980s she worked in television. She appeared in the ABC miniseries *The Winds of War* (1983), where critics singled out her performance unfavorably, and played Lady Ashley Mitchell in *Dynasty* (1985); she learned her character would be killed off only during the shooting of the season's final episode.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1983/02/06/the-winds-of-war/922c34d3-9840-47d9-b757-bcb83d97c5fd/) • [9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/06/18/the-regrets-of-the-real-ali-macgraw/216f74d4-80b0-4452-b076-56827480dfb6/) Her last major screen appearance listed in her filmography is her son Josh Evans's first feature, *Glam* (1997).[11](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ali_macgraw)
## Memoir and later life
MacGraw published her autobiography, *Moving Pictures* (Bantam Books), in 1991. It climbed the New York Times bestseller list and became an international bestseller.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/) The book deals frankly with her alcoholism and what she called dependence on relationships with men; she spent a month at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1986 and reported being sober afterward.[12](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780553072709)
She has lived near [Santa Fe, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-fe-new-mexico), since 1994, after a wildfire destroyed her Los Angeles home, and she works on behalf of social, animal, and environmental causes; she received the Humane Education Award from Animal Protection of New Mexico for speaking out on animal issues.[13](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ali-macgraw-defining-beauty/) • [8](https://goldenglobes.com/articles/tomorrows-stars-yesterday-ali-macgraw-1970/) On February 12, 2021, she and Ryan O'Neal received stars on the [Hollywood Walk of Fame](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-walk-of-fame) in the category of Motion Pictures, in the first virtual double-star ceremony in the Walk's history, honoring the 50th anniversary of *Love Story*.[4](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/)
## Legacy
MacGraw's limited filmography of the 1970s, combined with the scale of *Love Story*'s success, made her image, the long straight hair, the knit cap and jeans, a style reference that still circulates, and the film's line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" became a widely quoted phrase.[6](https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/ali-macgraw-celebrity-interview-news-2017/) • [13](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ali-macgraw-defining-beauty/) *Love Story* earned about $130 million worldwide at the time of release, roughly equivalent to a billion dollars in today's terms according to a [CBS News](https://www.edgepedia.org/cbs-news) retrospective.[14](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ali-macgraw-and-ryan-oneal-on-filming-love-story/)
## References
1. [Ali MacGraw, Golden Globes](https://goldenglobes.com/person/ali-macgraw/)
2. [Ali MacGraw – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532298/awards/)
3. [Ali MacGraw filmography, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/10783-Ali-MacGraw?cp=1&cxt=Cast2&pos=3&sid=a75c1269-5972-4807-aab6-348ba063785d&sr=0.14620619)
4. [Ali MacGraw, Hollywood Walk of Fame](https://walkoffame.com/ali-macgraw/)
5. [MacGRAW, Ali, Enciclopedia del Cinema, Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ali-macgraw_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
6. [How Ali MacGraw Found Inner Peace, AARP](https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/ali-macgraw-celebrity-interview-news-2017/)
7. [Show Business: Ali MacGraw: A Return to Basics, TIME (1969)](https://time.com/archive/6814566/show-business-ali-macgraw-a-return-to-basics/)
8. [Tomorrow's Stars Yesterday: Ali MacGraw, 1970, Golden Globes](https://goldenglobes.com/articles/tomorrows-stars-yesterday-ali-macgraw-1970/)
9. [The Regrets of the Real Ali MacGraw, The Washington Post (1991)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/06/18/the-regrets-of-the-real-ali-macgraw/216f74d4-80b0-4452-b076-56827480dfb6/)
10. [The Winds of War, The Washington Post (1983)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1983/02/06/the-winds-of-war/922c34d3-9840-47d9-b757-bcb83d97c5fd/)
11. [Ali MacGraw, Rotten Tomatoes](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ali_macgraw)
12. [Moving Pictures: An Autobiography, review, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780553072709)
13. [Ali MacGraw, Defining Beauty, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ali-macgraw-defining-beauty/)
14. [Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal on filming Love Story, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ali-macgraw-and-ryan-oneal-on-filming-love-story/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames M to Ma*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license