Ali MacGraw | |
|---|---|
 MacGraw inThe Getaway, 1972 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Alice MacGraw (1939-04-01)April 1, 1939 (age 86)[a] Pound Ridge, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Wellesley College |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Josh Evans |
Elizabeth Alice MacGraw (born April 1, 1939) is an American actress. For her role inGoodbye, Columbus (1969) she won aGolden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She then starred inLove Story (1970), for which she was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Actress and won aGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 1972, MacGraw was voted thetop female film star in the world[3] and was honored with a hands and footprints ceremony atGrauman's Chinese Theatre after having made just three films. She went on to star inThe Getaway (1972),Convoy (1978),Players (1979),Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), andThe Winds of War (1983). In 1991, she published an autobiography,Moving Pictures.
MacGraw was born inPound Ridge, New York,[4] the daughter ofcommercial artists Frances (née Klein)[5] and Richard MacGraw.[1] She has one brother, Dick, an artist.[1] Her mother was Hungarian Jewish, the daughter of emigrants fromBudapest, Hungary. MacGraw's mother chose not to disclose her ancestry to Ali's father, instead professing ignorance about it. "I think Daddy was bigoted," MacGraw has said.[1][6][7][8]
Her mother was considered a "pioneer" as an artist, who had taught in Paris before settling inGreenwich Village. Her parents married when her mother was nearing 35: "My gorgeous father: a combination ofTyrone Power and a mystery, a brilliant artist and a brain beyond brains."[1] He was born in New Jersey with his childhood spent in an orphanage. He ran away to sea when he was 16 and studied art inMunich. MacGraw adds, "Daddy was frightened and really, really angry. He never forgave his real parents for giving him up."[1] As an adult, he constantly suppressed the rage he built up against his parents.[1] She described her father as "violent".[9]
MacGraw attendedRosemary Hall inGreenwich, Connecticut and graduated fromWellesley College inWellesley, Massachusetts in 1960.[1]
Beginning in 1960, MacGraw spent six years working atHarper's Bazaar magazine as a photographic assistant to fashion mavenDiana Vreeland.[1] She worked atVogue magazine as a fashion model and as a photographer's stylist. She has also worked as an interior designer.[10]
MacGraw began her acting career in television commercials, including one for thePolaroid Swinger camera.[11] In one commercial forInternational Paper, she was on a beach in a bikini made ofConfil and went for a swim underwater to prove its strength and durability. MacGraw gained widespread attention withGoodbye, Columbus (1969), her first leading role, but real stardom came when she starred oppositeRyan O'Neal inLove Story (1970), one of the highest-grossing films in U.S. history.[12] The film, and MacGraw's performance in particular, received widespread critical acclaim, and earned her theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, in addition to a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress. FollowingLove Story, MacGraw was celebrated on the cover ofTime.
In 1972, after appearing in just three films, she had her footprints and autograph engraved atGrauman's Chinese Theatre. She then starred oppositeSteve McQueen inThe Getaway (1972), which was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. Having taken a five-year break from acting, in 1978 MacGraw re-emerged in another box office hit,Convoy (1978), oppositeKris Kristofferson. She then appeared in the filmsPlayers (1979) andJust Tell Me What You Want (1980), directed bySidney Lumet.
In 1983, MacGraw starred in the highly successful television miniseriesThe Winds of War. In 1985, MacGraw joined hitABC prime-time soap operaDynasty as LadyAshley Mitchell, which, she admitted in a 2011 interview, she did for the money.[13] She appeared in 14 episodes of the show before her character was killed off in the "Moldavian Massacre" cliffhanger episode in 1985.
She also hosted segments for the Encore Love Stories premium cable network in the late 1990s and 2000s.
In February 2021, MacGraw and O'Neal were honored with stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame, 50 years after the release ofLove Story.[14]
MacGraw made her Broadway theater debut in New York City in 2006 as a dysfunctionalmatriarch in the dramaFesten (The Celebration).
In 2016, MacGraw reunited with Ryan O'Neal in a staging ofA.R. Gurney's playLove Letters, which toured the US and UK through 2017.[15]
In 1991,People magazine selected MacGraw as one of its "50 Most Beautiful People" in the World.[16]
In 2008,GQ magazine listed her in their "Sexiest 25 Women in Film Ever" edition.[17]
Having become aHatha Yoga devotee in her early 50s, MacGraw produced ayoga video with the American Yoga MasterErich Schiffmann,Ali MacGraw Yoga Mind and Body. The impact of this bestselling video was such that in June 2007,Vanity Fair magazine credited MacGraw with being one of the people responsible for the practice's recent popularity in the United States.
In July 2006, MacGraw filmed a public service announcement forPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), urging residents to take their pets with them in the event of wildfires.[18] In 2008, she wrote the foreword to the bookPawprints of Katrina[19] by authorCathy Scott and photography byClay Myers aboutBest Friends Animal Society and the largest pet rescue in U.S. history.[20] MacGraw is also a U.S. Ambassador for animal welfare charityAnimals Asia. She has been a life long lover ofScottish Terriers, now having her sixth.[21] An animal welfare advocate throughout her life, she received the Humane Education Award by Animal Protection of New Mexico for speaking out about animal issues.[22]
While in college, MacGraw metGerman Canadian Robert "Robin" Martin Hoen, aHarvard-educated banker, and the couple married on October 29, 1960.[23] They divorced in July 1962.[23][24] Hoen died on September 13, 2016.[25]
Following her first divorce, MacGraw had a string of relationships and one abortion; the procedure was still illegal at the time.[26] In 1979, MacGraw's mother, who was 38 when she gave birth to her, revealed that she had an abortion of her own in the early 1920s.[26]
On October 24, 1969, MacGraw married film producerRobert Evans.[27] Their son,Josh Evans, is an actor, director, producer and screenwriter. They separated in 1972 after she became involved in a public affair withSteve McQueen on the set ofThe Getaway. MacGraw's divorce from Evans was finalized on June 7, 1973, and on July 12, she married McQueen inCheyenne, Wyoming. They divorced in August 1978.[28]
In the nearly half-century since her divorce from McQueen, MacGraw has never remarried. She datedWarren Beatty,Rick Danko,Bill Hudson,Ronald Meyer,Rod Stryker,Fran Tarkenton,Peter Weller,Henry Wolf andMickey Raphael.[24][29]
MacGraw's autobiography,Moving Pictures, revealed herstruggles with alcohol andsex addiction. She was treated for the former at theBetty Ford Center.
When ex-husband Evans received his star on theHollywood Walk of Fame in 2002, she accompanied him. Their grandson Jackson was born in December 2010 to Josh and his wife, singerRoxy Saint.[30][31] After Evans' 2019 death, MacGraw toldThe Hollywood Reporter, "Our son, Joshua, and I will miss Bob tremendously, and we are so very proud of his enormous contribution to the film industry."[32] Evans toldVanity Fair in 2010 that MacGraw had been a close friend of his despite their divorce.[1]
MacGraw has lived inTesuque, New Mexico, since 1994, after the house she rented inMalibu was destroyed by a fire.[33] She was originally intended to make a cameo as herself in theBreaking Bad episode "Grey Matter" as a guest at the birthday party of characterElliott Schwartz, set inSanta Fe, but her appearance did not make the final cut of the episode.[34]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | A Lovely Way to Die | Melody | |
| 1969 | Goodbye, Columbus | Brenda Patimkin | Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Nominated—BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer |
| 1970 | Love Story | Jennifer Cavilleri | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1972 | The Getaway | Carol McCoy | |
| 1978 | Convoy | Melissa | |
| 1979 | Players | Nicole Boucher | |
| 1980 | Just Tell Me What You Want | Bones Burton | |
| 1985 | Murder Elite | Diane Baker | |
| 1994 | Natural Causes | Fran Jakes | |
| 1997 | Glam | Lynn Travers | |
| 1999 | Get Bruce | Herself |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | The Winds of War | Natalie Jastrow | Miniseries |
| 1983 | China Rose | Rose | TV movie |
| 1985 | Dynasty | LadyAshley Mitchell | 14 episodes |
| 1992 | Survive the Savage Sea | Claire Carpenter | TV movie |
| 1993 | Gunsmoke: The Long Ride | Uncle Jane Merkel | TV movie |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2002 | The Trail of the Painted Ponies |
| 2005 | Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah |
| 2007 | Do You Sleep in the Nude? |
| 2009 | Split Estate |
| 2010 | Landscapes of Enchantment |
| 2012 | Valles Caldera: The Science |
In the original version of this article, Ali MacGraw's age last April was originally stated as 71. She turned 70 last April. We regret the error.
