Ali MacGraw became a Hollywood sensation almost overnight. But after rising quickly to international fame, she stepped away from the industry just as fast, choosing a quieter path away from constant attention.
Now 85, the actress has built a calm life in a remote, small town, embracing aging naturally and wearing her gray hair with confidence.
Ali MacGraw’s early life
Ali MacGraw, born Elizabeth Alice MacGraw, arrived on April 1, 1939, in Pound Ridge, New York, USA. Her mother, Frances, was an artist who once worked at a school in Paris before later settling in Greenwich Village. She married Richard MacGraw, also an artist, and the couple welcomed Ali that same year.
Ali later suggested that her father carried painful scars from his own childhood. He had endured a harsh upbringing in an orphanage, ran away at 16 to go to sea, and later studied at an art school in Munich, Germany.
“Daddy was frightened and really, really angry. He never forgave his real parents for giving him up,” Ali explained, saying his adult life was spent “suppressing the rage that covered all his hurt.”
Growing up with financial strain and family tension
Money was tight in the household. Frances and Richard, along with Ali and her brother Richard Jr., moved into a house on a Pound Ridge wilderness preserve, sharing it with an elderly couple.
“There were no doors; we shared the kitchen and bathroom with them,” Ali said. “It was utter lack of privacy. It was horrible.”
Frances kept the family afloat through commercial-art work. Richard struggled to sell his paintings, grew increasingly frustrated, and the home environment became difficult. Ali later recalled that her brother often became the target of their father’s anger, and she witnessed painful moments that stayed with her.
Education and the move into fashion
As the daughter of artists, Ali felt pulled toward a creative life of her own. She earned a scholarship to Rosemary Hall, and in 1956, she left to study at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
By 22, she moved to New York City and landed her first job at Harper’s Bazaar as an assistant editor, supporting photographers and working behind the scenes.
Fashion editor Diana Vreeland hired Ali in a demanding assistant role that Ali later compared to the kind of high-pressure atmosphere people recognize from movies about fashion.
“It was ‘Girl! Get me a pencil!’,” MacGraw recalled.
After several months, fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky noticed her striking look. Ali was hired as a stylist, received a better salary, and stayed in that position for six years.
“I don’t know where she got this work ethic, but Ali would come in at eight a.m., and many times I’d come back at one in the morning and she would still be doing things for the next day,” recalled Ruth Ansel, a former art director at Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar.
Ali’s success behind the camera eventually turned into modeling opportunities. She appeared on magazine covers around the world and in television commercials. From there, her career shifted toward acting.
A strange experience also helped clarify what she wanted next: she had been sketched nude by Salvador Dalí a couple of years earlier, but when the artist began sucking her toes, MacGraw decided she’d rather pursue acting than remain in the modeling world.
A rapid rise in Hollywood
Ali moved from fashion into film with surprising speed. Her lack of formal training gave her performances a raw, natural quality, and audiences responded strongly to her presence.
After a small role in A Lovely Way to Die (1968), she was cast in Goodbye, Columbus (1969). The role proved pivotal, earning her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female.
Love Story and a defining breakthrough
Soon after, she received a script from her agent that affected her deeply. She later said she cried twice while reading it and knew she had to be part of the project. Determined to secure the role, she arranged a meeting with producer Robert Evans, who was then Paramount Pictures’ head of production, at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Evans thought she was perfect for the part in Love Story, and he fell for her personally as well.
MacGraw starred as Jenny opposite Ryan O’Neal in the film. Love Story premiered in 1970, became the No. 1 film in the United States, and at the time ranked as the sixth highest-grossing movie in history in the US and Canada.
Ali’s performance earned her an Academy Award nomination, and she won a second Golden Globe, this time for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Marriage to Robert Evans and the shift to Steve McQueen
MacGraw and Evans married in 1969, and two years later welcomed their son, Josh Evans.