But it was not just the extras and the actors who were working.

The director, Arthur Hiller, says he and seven other crew members pushed a station wagon along a sidewalk so that the camera operator could film O'Neal and McGraw walking in the rain while preventing exhaust from appearing in the picture.

According to Hiller, there was also a fair amount of spontaneous playing during filming. The director remembers yelling at McGraw and O'Neal to make "snow angels! snow angels!" following a huge snowstorm.

There was no snow scene in the script, but Hiller says the opportunity to film McGraw and O'Neal rolling in the snow was too good to waste.

The hours of work also paid off in the box office. The film was a smash hit, garnering nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Female Actor and Best Supporting Actor and winning Best Score at the 1971 Academy Awards.

"Love Story" also launched the career of one of today's most sought-after actors, Tommy Lee Jones '69, who has since appeared in such films as "The Fugitive," "Batman Returns" and "The Client."

In his debut film role as Barrett's roommate, however, Jones said little more than three lines.

Jones, a former Dunster resident and roommate of Vice President Al Gore '69, must have felt right at home during the filming, for the majority of it was shot on the Harvard campus, most notably in Tercentenary Theater, Widener Library, first-year dorms, Eliot House and Watson Arena.

But Jones was not the only star with close connections to Harvard.

McGraw explains that as an undergraduate at Wellesley College, she, like her character in the film, dated several Harvard men.

"My Harvard experience was weekends with my boyfriends, which was a party for the most part," she recalls.

As a student, McGraw also acted in plays with Harvard undergraduates. Segal and McGraw actually acted together in "All's Well That Ends Well" in the late 1950s.

Although McGraw says she has not seen "Love Story" in more than 20 years, she says she remains proud of her efforts.

From Nairobi to Hong Kong to Bangkok, "the film did touch millions of people in all different languages," McGraw says.

Learning the Part