Once upon a time, this woman was the epitome of Hollywood beauty. Her face graced countless magazines, her smile lit up the silver screen, and fans couldn’t get enough of her. Fast forward to today, and at 85, she has transformed in ways that make her almost unrecognizable.

Ali MacGraw, 86, Steps Out in New York City, 55 Years After Love Story
The beloved actress hit the sunny New York City streets in a chic black suit

Ali MacGraw is stunning at 86!
The actress was photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 12, looking fantastic in a sleek black suit on the streets of New York City. MacGraw wore her striking gray hair swept back and accessorized with a simple black handbag and elegant kitten heels.

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than half a century since MacGraw rose to fame as the star of romantic films like Goodbye, Columbus (1969) and Love Story (1970).

The actress was 30 when she won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for 1969’s Goodbye, Columbus. One year later, she took on what is probably her most iconic role as Jenny Cavilleri, a working class college student who falls for wealthy classmate Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) in 1970’s Love Story.

The film was a box office smash as well as critically well-received. MacGraw’s performance earned her another Golden Globe and a 1971 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Love Story went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time and remains a romance classic. In 2021, Paramount+ announced it was developing a series based on the film.

As the star of the 1970 blockbuster romance Love Story, Ali MacGraw became one of the most popular actresses of the era. While Love Story has often been parodied for its over-the-top melodrama (who can forget the line “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,” or the image of the actress on her deathbed while still looking gorgeous and perfectly put together?) its iconic status is undeniable, and it catapulted MacGraw to the A-list.

Here’s a look at how she got her start, and what she’s been up to since leaving the film industry in the ’90s.
A newcomer at age 30

Born Elizabeth Alice MacGraw in 1939, Ali MacGraw had a somewhat unusual career path, as unlike most actresses at the time, who started out in the teens or early 20s, she was already 30 when she made her film debut in the 1969 adaptation of the novel Goodbye, Columbus.

Reflecting on her career in a recent New York Times feature, the actress, now 85, said, “Looking back, it seems so strange that — overnight, at 30 — I became a ‘movie star.’ I’m relieved I got out of that often exciting, often terrifying decade alive. I’d been working since I was 14, but I hadn’t gone to school for acting. I was chosen to be in Goodbye, Columbus, and then everything exploded with the stupefying surprise of Love Story — this cost-nothing project nobody expected to be a success.”