Ali MacGraw
Elizabeth Alice MacGraw (born April 1, 1939)[a] is an American actress and activist. She gained attention with her role in the film Goodbye, Columbus (1969), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She gained an international profile for her role in the romantic drama Love Story (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 1972, MacGraw was voted the top female box office star in the world[2] and was honored with a hands and footprints ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre after having been in just three films. Despite this, she retained her leading woman status in only four films afterward. She went on to star in the popular action film The Getaway (1972). She played the female lead in Convoy (1978) and headlined the romantic sports drama Players (1979), the comedy Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), and appeared in the historical novel-based television miniseries The Winds of War (1983). In 1991, she published an autobiography, Moving Pictures.
Ali MacGraw
- Actress
- model
- author
- animal welfare activist
1960–present
Early life[edit]
MacGraw was born in Pound Ridge, New York, the daughter of commercial artists Frances (née Klein)[3] and Richard MacGraw.[1] She has one brother, Dick, an artist.[1] Her mother was Jewish, the daughter of emigrants from Budapest, 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][4][5][6]
Her mother was considered a "pioneer" as an artist, who had taught in Paris before settling in Greenwich Village. Her parents married when her mother was nearing 35: "My gorgeous father: a combination of Tyrone 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 in Munich. 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".[7]
MacGraw attended Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut and Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[1]
Career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Beginning in 1960, MacGraw spent six years working at Harper's Bazaar magazine as a photographic assistant to fashion maven Diana Vreeland.[1] She worked at Vogue magazine as a fashion model, and as a photographer's stylist. She has also worked as an interior designer.
Animal welfare[edit]
In July 2006, MacGraw filmed a public service announcement for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), urging residents to take their pets with them in the event of wildfires.[15] In 2008, she wrote the foreword to the book Pawprints of Katrina[16] by author Cathy Scott and photography by Clay Myers about Best Friends Animal Society and the largest pet rescue in U.S. history.[17] MacGraw is also a U.S. Ambassador for animal welfare charity Animals Asia. She has been a life long lover of Scottish Terriers, now having her sixth. [18] 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.[19]