Althouse: "I failed and failed and got my share of deservedly horrific reviews in conspicuous vehicles. And, believe me, I didn’t feel like I was being misjudged."

May 22, 2024

"I failed and failed and got my share of deservedly horrific reviews in conspicuous vehicles. And, believe me, I didn’t feel like I was being misjudged."

"Unlike a lot of people, though, I did not swallow the Kool-Aid. I’m reasonably intelligent. I behaved well. But I would have preferred to have been good at what I was applauded for. I’m grateful I had all that, but I live a very different life now. I don’t care at all about being seen in the latest piece of clothing or knowing the latest song. I don’t feel diminished by not knowing those things. I did it all and was looked at, and that was for another time...."

Said Ali MacGraw, quoted in "Ali MacGraw on Her Natural, Beautiful Life" (NYT).

28 comments:

Yancey Ward said...: Terrible actress- no natural talent. However, one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen- I rewatch "The Getaway" on occasion and mostly because of her.; 5/22/24, 9:11 AM
Aggie said...: Well, I'm glad she's decided to age gracefully and privately, and is finding it satisfying. Good for her ! In her heyday she was pretty, but I didn't think hers was a really exceptional beauty, and she really was, well, less than what I would call a 'talented' actress. C'est La Vie.

Santa Fake. Been years since I've been there.; 5/22/24, 9:25 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: She got attacked for her acting, but I never saw what was so bad about it. She's good in "The Getaway" with McQueen.

Good that she's relatively happy and well adjusted.

McQueen was a set to do "Sorcerer" (aka a rip off of wages of fear) with William Friedkin but he wanted McGraw to be on set with him in the jungle. He wanted Friedkin to hire McGraw as an assoicate producter and pay her $100,000 or whatever. Friedkin saw this as a chance to get out paying McQueen his million dollar salary and said no. McQueen quit, and then Yves Montand quit (he only signed up because of McQueen). Friedkin then cast a bunch of Euro nobodies and Ray Snieder as the lead. The movie did poor business. Don't know if Friedkin lost money by getting rid of McQueen.; 5/22/24, 9:27 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "but I never saw what was so bad about it"

Wooden is how I would describe it. No shame in that- were I to try acting it would be tree-like, too.; 5/22/24, 9:30 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: A normie.; 5/22/24, 9:32 AM
Rory said...: The Mad Magazine parody of Love Story was very funny.; 5/22/24, 9:34 AM
Jersey Fled said...: I had to go back and google her to see what she looked like. Pretty in kind of a girl next store way. Not a beauty in the Sophia Loren kind of way. Don’t remember much in terms of her acting. But I’m glad she found peace in her later years. So many don’t.; 5/22/24, 9:50 AM
Big Mike said...: Something stuck in my mind from years ago. A film critic was comparing Ali McGraw with Katharine Ross, and he asserted that whichever one you saw most recently was the one you were sure was the worse of the two.; 5/22/24, 9:55 AM
Quaestor said...: Nothing bad that happened to Ali MacGraw's acting career wasn't the fault of Erich Segal.; 5/22/24, 10:02 AM
lonejustice said...: I think it's great when anyone is able to age gracefully, be content with who they are, and enjoy life in the present and not live in the past. Good for her.; 5/22/24, 10:13 AM
Joe Smith said...: She had a 'look' back in the day...more girl next door than smoking hot.

But, looking at photos, it seems like she's stayed in shape.

But she really fell off a cliff acting-wise early in her career.; 5/22/24, 10:20 AM
Joe Smith said...: 'Something stuck in my mind from years ago. A film critic was comparing Ali McGraw with Katharine Ross, and he asserted that whichever one you saw most recently was the one you were sure was the worse of the two.'

Ross was hotter by a factor of 10.; 5/22/24, 10:21 AM
PM said...: She got to hang out with McQueen, Peckinpah and Ben Johnson. Tall cotton.; 5/22/24, 10:22 AM
William said...: She really was good looking. The good looks upstaged the acting and, to some extent, made the acting talent irrelevant. There were a lot nude scenes with Emma Stone in that movie Poor Things. I think Ali McGraw would have brought more to that role than Emma Stone.; 5/22/24, 10:30 AM
Saint Croix said...: She was nominated for an Oscar for Love Story, so somebody must have liked her.

I never saw that movie, the book was so bad.

She and McQueen are a lot of fun in The Getaway, Peckinpah's happiest movie by far.

That's based on a Jim Thompson book, my favorite noir writer. Originally, the screenplay was written by Thompson, and it was going to be directed by Peter Bogdanovich. McQueen got both of them fired. And then he stole the producer's wife (MacGraw). For a quiet guy, he's hell on wheels.

"Punch it, baby."; 5/22/24, 10:45 AM
rwnutjob said...: "She was nominated for an Oscar for Love Story, so somebody must have liked her."

The ending to "What's up doc" with Babs back before she became insufferable and Ryan O'Neal has a spoof of "Love means never having to say you are sorry."

It was hysterical

p.s. that is one of the funniest modern slapstick comedies ever. Go find it.

Ignore her bullshit later in life. She was smoking & funny.; 5/22/24, 11:05 AM
ga6 said...: But Sam Elliott got Catherine Ross..just took him a while.; 5/22/24, 11:12 AM
wordsmith said...: I always found her interesting to look at, even if she was not conventionally beautiful. I think I read somewhere that Hollywood wanted to fix her teeth and she was glad she didn't let them do it because it was one of her more distinctive features, and not unattractive. Can't remember the last time I saw her -- I think it may have been on "Dynasty" in the 1980s.; 5/22/24, 11:15 AM
Lucien said...: Decades ago in the candy store in the Brentwood Country Market an attractive woman was ordering yogurt covered pretzels and paying by check. I peeked at the check to see what her name was — and it was Ali McGraw.; 5/22/24, 12:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: Love Story was the 1960s upper middle class chick flick extraordinaire. Hasn’t been topped until Taylor Swifts lyrics started an industry ten years ago.

But the 1950s Annette Funicello lovers all fell at Ali’s feet. Her lack of acting skills was a plus. She was our imaginary simpleton hottie.; 5/22/24, 1:20 PM
MacMacConnell said...: "She was our imaginary simpleton hottie."

Damn near every high schooler and college guy fell for Ali after seeing "Goodbye, Columbus" in 1969.; 5/22/24, 6:34 PM
Iman said...: MacGraw could flare her nostrils with the best of ‘em. That’s what I remember the most about her. I always found her to be quite lovely. And she was married to Bob Evan’s, so she gets props for that too, lol.; 5/22/24, 8:51 PM
Tina Trent said...: What does she, or the reporter, mean by saying she works in "educational rights"?

I guess I was born too late and not well-off enough to enjoy the prone position Goodby Columbus abuse of dumb shiska women garbage.

Ironically, sixty-five years later, Philip Roth is still better off f***ing only himself. Self-pitying faker. I'm in the Bellow/Updike camp. And if Ali MacGraw wants to prattle on about "educational rights" from a ten million dollar mansion, then I guess her version of authenticity is as shallow as the rest of them. Nice to see she rebels with her face, at least. But wrinkles don't mean you've learned anything.; 5/23/24, 3:45 AM
Narr said...: I had to Google to see what she used to look like--I wasn't much impressed at the time, I guess, and I don't think she has aged well.

Her wiki bio indicates she was a busy gal, what with the yoga and sex-addiction--but until this post I hadn't given her any thought.; 5/23/24, 9:32 AM
cassandra lite said...: I met her a few times in the Malibu supermarket a few times. She was as charming and down to earth as she was beautiful. My girlfriend at the time confirmed this when she told me she used to babysit Josh for Ali and Steve.; 5/23/24, 9:53 AM
Narr said...: "Shiksa" not "shiska." TT at 345 AM.

Wikip says her mother was Jewish. Can a half-Jew be a shiksa?

Demishiksa?; 5/23/24, 1:37 PM
Narr said...: I thought this had gone through earlier--

Tina references "shiskas." The term is "shiksa". FWIW Wikipedia says AM's mother was born a Jew.; 5/23/24, 7:05 PM
Tina Trent said...: Narr: I'm referring to MacGraw playing the abused shiksa in the movie version of the incredibly shiksa-abusive, anti-Christian novel by Philip Roth.

When I grew up, the sexual nastiness of some lace curtain Irish Catholic and Jewish males towards females outside their ethnic/religious groups was pretty gross, though I had Jewish male friends who were complete gentlemen.

Homeroom was alphabetized. I sat in front of a lot of guys called Wu. I played a lot of chess with the nice Jewish and Asian boys. I avoided the artsy ones and stuck with the STEM ones. A generally good rule. Chess is more enjoyable than spermy adolescent neurosis.; 5/24/24, 1:43 PM