Legendary Love Story actress, 85, looks ‘timeless’ as she’s spotted in New York

Ali MacGraw is a timeless queen (Picture: Elder Ordonez/ instarImages) Hollywood actress Ali MacGraw wowed her fans earlier this week, 55 years after the release of her legendary romance drama film Love Story.

MacGraw, 85, was 30 years old when she starred in the Arthur Hiller film which was a giant success at the box office and is considered one of the most romantic films of all time.

She walked along the New York street in a slim black suit and wore her silver hair up in a tight bun, accessorising with a black clutch handbag.

MacGraw was spotted outside the Lowell Hotel in New York, just a short walk from Manhattan’s famous Central Park and close to the city’s Four Seasons Hotel.

On Instagram, fan Sarah Bolton described meeting MacGraw one day: ‘Meeting her is something I will never forget – a true beauty inside and out.’

Another user, Dina De Luca, called her a ‘timeless beauty’ while several users sent lines of love heart emojis to the 1960s Hollywood star.

She looked every bit a movie star while walking in New York (Picture: Elder Ordonez/ instarImages)

She was a huge star in the 1960s (Picture: Getty/Bettmann Archive) Love Story follows the lives of Harvard student Oliver (Ryan O’Neal) and budding musician Jenny (MacGraw), who fall in love despite the disapproval of Oliver’s father – also named Oliver.

However, things take a tear-jerking turn when serious doubt is cast over Jenny’s health and future, putting her plans with Oliver to start a family on hold.

The film was based on a book of the same name, which had been published by Erich Segal in 1970. It had apparently been inspired by actor Tommy Lee Jones and American politician Al Gore when they were both studying at Harvard.

Ali was the star of Love Story – the iconic 1970s film (Picture: Elder Ordonez/ instarImages)

Love Story became one of the highest grossing films of all time (Picture: Corbis/Getty Images) Jones eventually starred in the film adaptation as character Hank Simpson – his appearance in Love Story was the first of his esteemed acting career.

MacGraw became involved when she read the script, also penned by Segal – who died in 2010 – and Paramount Pictures agreed to the make the film as a vehicle for her acting abilities.

She had just finished working on Goodbye, Columbus, which earned her a Golden Globe award for best new actress and a Bafta nomination for most promising newcomer.

Despite being put together on a modest film budget of $2million (around £15m in 2025), Love Story grossed a whopping $173million (around £1.1billion in 2025).

‘A true beauty inside and out’ (Picture: Robert Alexander/Getty Images) To this day, adjusted for inflation, it remains one of the most successful films of all time, while MacGraw remains an iconic figure of romantic dramas and comedies of the late 60s and early 70s.

At the Golden Globes, she went one better than the year before and won the award for best actress, beating the likes of Faye Dunaway and Glenda Jackson.

MacGraw largely stepped away from the limelight in the mid-70s, appearing in only three films (1972’s The Getaway, Convoy in 1978, and Players in 1979) through the rest of the decade.

This was around the time she married her third husband, The Great Escape actor Steve McQueen, after the two had an affair on the set of The Getaway in the early 1970s.

In her autobiography, MacGraw revealed that she later sought help for alcohol abuse and sex addiction.

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