December 16, 1970: The film Love Story premieres, based on the novel of that year by Erich Segal, and directed by Arthur Hiller. It becomes one of the most popular films of its time.
Oliver Barrett IV (played by Ryan O'Neal), heir of an American upper-class East Coast family, attends Harvard University, where he plays hockey. He meets Jennifer Cavilleri (Ali McGraw), a quick-witted, working-class student of classical music at adjoining Radcliffe College. At the time, Radcliffe was considered the women's version of Harvard. The schools did not merge until 1977.
Oliver and Jenny fall in love, despite their differences. She accepts his marriage proposal, but his parents are judgmental and unimpressed. Oliver's father (Ray Milland) says he will cut him off financially if he marries Jenny, but after graduation, they marry.
Jenny works as a teacher, but without his father's financial support, the couple struggles to pay Oliver's way through Harvard Law School. Oliver graduates third in his class, and takes a position at a respectable New York City law firm. Jenny undergoes blood tests, to determine why she hasn't yet conceived a child. Oliver is told the reason: She is terminally ill.
Oliver attempts to continue as normal without telling Jenny of her condition, but she confronts her doctor and finds out the truth. Oliver buys tickets to Paris, which she has always wanted to visit, but she declines to go, wanting only to spend time with him. Oliver seeks money from his estranged father to pay for Jenny's cancer therapy. His father asks if he has "gotten a girl in trouble." Oliver says yes, and his father writes a check.
Jenny makes funeral arrangements with her father from her hospital bed. She tells Oliver to not blame himself, insisting that he never held her back from music, and it was worth it for the love they shared. Jenny's last wish is for Oliver to embrace her tightly as she dies.
A grief-stricken Oliver leaves the hospital and he sees his father outside, who has rushed to New York City from Massachusetts to offer his help after learning about Jenny's condition. Oliver tells him, "Jenny's dead," and his father says "I'm sorry," to which Oliver responds with something that Jenny had once told him: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
The film split public opinion. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 4 stars, and called it "infinitely better than the book." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "It's the telling that matters: the surfaces and the textures and the charm of the actors. And it is hard to see how these quantities could have been significantly improved upon in Love Story."
But Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune, who would later pair with Ebert to review films on the nationally-syndicated TV show At the Movies with Siskel & Ebert, wrote, "Seeing the characters in the movie... makes us want to know something about them. We get precious little, and love by fiat doesn't work well in film."
Vincent Canby of The New York Times hated it: "The only really depressing thing about Love Story is the thought of all the terrible imitations that will inevitably follow it." Judith Crist of New York magazine, which permitted its writers to use profanity, called it "Camille with bullshit."
Despite these criticisms, the film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Hiller, Best Actor for O'Neal, Best Actress for McGraw, Best Supporting Actor for John Marley (for playing Jenny's father, Phil Cavilleri), and Best Screenplay for Segal. But it only won 1, Best Original Score, for Francis Lai.
It launched O'Neal and McGraw to stardom, and helped set the template for what became known as the "chick flick": A movie that women would love, and men would endure to make their women happy. Andy Williams had a hit with "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story," the film's main song.
In 1971, as a result of the film, Jennifer became the most popular baby girl's name in America. It would hold this position for 14 years. In the 1973-74 TV season, NBC broadcast Love Story, an anthology series. Aside from having the same title, and using the same theme song, it had no connection to the film.
In 1977, Segal wrote a sequel, Oliver's Story. It was filmed in 1978. O'Neal and Ray Milland reprised their roles. Ed Binns replaced Marley as Phil. Oliver tries to lose himself in his work, until he finds love again, with Marcie Bonwit (Candice Bergen), the heir to the Bonwit Teller department store fortune. It doesn't work out, but he does finally reconcile with his father. Suffering from comparisons to the original, Oliver's Story did poorly with both critics and audiences.
Marley died in 1984, Milland in 1986, Binns in 1990, Segal in 2010, Hiller in 2016. As of December 16, 2022, O'Neal and McGraw are still alive. (UPDATE: O'Neal died on December 8, 2023.)
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December 16, 1970 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 108-84 at the Cleveland Arena.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the San Diego Rockets, 128-117 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 118-102 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Wilt Chamberlain scored 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 108-91 at the Civic Auditorium (now the Bill Graham Auditorium) in San Francisco.
There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The Kentucky Colonels beat their arch-rivals, the Indiana Pacers, 125-110 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. And the Utah Stars beat the Memphis Pros, 145-101 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.
And there were 6 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-0 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-4 at the Boston Garden.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 8-3 at the Chicago Stadium. Stan Mikita scored 4 goals, and the brothers Bobby and Dennis Hull each scored a goal.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 1-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The California Golden Seals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
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