For this I’m referring mainly to the three movies that defined her career:
Goodbye, Columbus
The Getaway
Love Story
I saw “Love Story” for the first time a while back. I don’t think Ryan O’Neal has ever been considered one of the ‘great’ actors of his time, but I always thought he was at least capable in the roles that got. But I thought that Ali’s performance in “Love Story” was. . . “less capable.”
Was she any better in the other two movies (which I have not seen)?
One of the worst actors in the history of . . . of history. Check out The Winds of War if you’re keen on self-harming.
She was just … there. Like a model posed in scenes, but not really doing anything. There were a bunch of actresses like that, but she was as vapid as they could get.
I was coming in to mention that. Let’s put it this way. In a 14-hour miniseries that features Polly Bergen and Jan-Michael Vincent in key roles, Ali McGraw stands out with a performance so cringeworthy that you want to root for the Nazis.
You just gave me a reason to post this clip of Ryan O’Neal.
Couldn’t agree more. She’s on the short list of actors with the likes of Jan-Michael Vincent ( also conveniently in the Winds of War, which I did watch like a fool ) that make me want to avoid watching anything they ever worked in.
On the other hand, there was this, in a great movie that he was just fine in.
I have to admit, I haven’t so much as heard of her in the last 40 years. I didn’t know that she’d written an autobiography. Not exactly a “must read.”
So, what’s Convoy, chopped liver?
“Wooden” is the term I recall most often from reviews and comments. The above captures it perfectly… she’s just “there,” like a cardboard cutout.
She wasn’t “not really doing anything.” Her main reason for being in a scene was to look pretty. She did meet that goal but had trouble going beyond that.
Anyway, a MAD article from the 70s had “The Emotional Range of Ali McGraw” in its “Library of the World’s Shortest Books” (along with “Honesty in Politics” by Richard Nixon).
She didn’t even do well during her stint in Dynasty, back in the 80’s.
The joke about “her emotions ran the gamut from A to B” seems particularly applicable in re: Ali McGraw.
You mentioned “Convoy,” and I remember her in that film. She didn’t add much–any “romantic interest” she was supposed to add was overwhelmed by the story itself. Mostly, I remember a freelance photographer character that tried to be a part of the plot, but failed–at least until the last two minutes of the film. Up until then, she was unimportant and unnecessary.
It’s appropriate, then, somehow, that (1) her name is the rather dull Elizabeth (Alice) McGraw - oh, and she starred opposite Charles O’Neal in “Love Story” - and (2) she died in that movie of a mysterious disease that made her more and more beautiful as she passed away. Only as a near-corpse could she improve her acting.
Dorothy Parker, re: Katharine Hepburn.
The torch does seem to have been passed to January Jones, though. :rolleyes: