50 YEARS OF LOVE STORY

Love Story, starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, gets a golden anniversary nod with a new limited-edition Blu-ray (Feb. 9), just in time for Valentine’s Day. Here are some fun facts about the seven-time Academy Award nominee, the No. 1 box office hit of 1970 and one of the first films ever to top $100 million in ticket sales.

• The film began as a screenplay by author Erich Segal, who later adapted it into a novel that remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 41 weeks.

• MacGraw admitted she was confused about the movie’s tagline, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

• Eight up-and-coming actors—including Michael Douglas, Peter Fonda and Jon Voight—turned down the role of Oliver before it went to Ryan O’Neal.

• Segal based Ryan O’Neal’s character on Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore, who were housemates at Harvard and friends of Segal’s.

• For the sake of authenticity, director Arthur Hiller convinced MacGraw to learn harpsichord for the scene in which it’s played by her character, Jenny.

• The snow scene in the Harvard football stadium was completely improvised—it was supposed to be a picnic, but the weather had other ideas.