| Ali MacGraw was born in Pound Ridge,
Westchester County, New York, the daughter of commercial artists;[2] MacGraw
has described her father as "violent".[3] MacGraw's maternal grandfather,
Maurice Klein, was a Jewish immigrant from Budapest, Hungary.[1][4] She
has one brother. [edit] Career An alumna of Rosemary Hall and Wellesley
College, she began working in 1960 as a photographic assistant at Harper's
Bazaar, as an assistant to the legendary fashion maven, Diana Vreeland,
at Vogue, and as a fashion model, and as a photographer's stylist. She gained
notice in Goodbye, Columbus, but real stardom came in 1970 with Love Story.
MacGraw was nominated for the 1970 Academy Award for Best Actress for Love
Story. She lost to Glenda Jackson who won that year for Women in Love. MacGraw's
keen eye and sense of style was celebrated on the cover of Time. Her minimalist
style basically consisted of healthy skin without much makeup, long gleaming
hair pulled back simply, and the ever-present brimless woolen hat that became
known as the "Ali Cap." She has also worked as an interior decorator. In
1972, she had her footprints and autograph engraved at Grauman's Chinese
Theatre after only four films. MacGraw has appeared in other films, such
as: The Getaway, Convoy, Players, Just Tell Me What You Want, and the television
miniseries China Rose and The Winds of War. In 1985, MacGraw appeared in
the hit ABC prime time soap opera Dynasty as "Lady Ashley Mitchell." MacGraw
wrote a well-received autobiography, Moving Pictures (which she now states
was "not well written"), which described her struggles with alcohol and
male dependence. She was treated for the former at the Betty Ford Center.
In 1991, People magazine chose her as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People
in the World. She had lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for many years after
"fleeing Malibu". Having become a Hatha Yoga devotee in her fifties, she
made a tremendously successful Yoga video with the American Yoga Master
Erich Schiffmann, Ali MacGraw Yoga Mind and Body, which was a bestseller
upon release and was still popular more than a decade later. The video's
impact was such that in June 2007 Vanity Fair magazine credited her for
being one of the people responsible for the practice's recent popularity
in the United States. In keeping with her interests, she narrated a well-received
documentary on Yoga, The Fire of Yoga in 2003. She made her Broadway theatre
debut in New York City in 2006 as a dysfunctional matriarch in the drama
Festen (The Celebration). She was also included in a Seventeen magazine
issue for inspiring hairstyles. |
