Find out which famous American actor made his debut in “Love Story”, a romantic and social drama by Arthur Hiller and released in 1971 in France.
Love Story is of course legendary music, a duo of actors (Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw), but also the first appearance on the big screen of a famous actor: Tommy Lee Jones. The star of Men in Black, No Country for Old Men or Batman Forever indeed started in the film, but did you recognize him?
Love Story is a love story between a man from a wealthy family, a law student at Harvard, and a young girl he meets at the library where she works to pay for her studies. Although they belong to different social classes, their love becomes stronger than anything but will be subjected to the trials of life…
We find Tommy Lee Jones in the role of one of Oliver’s roommates, who we see in a short scene and during a game of poker disturbed by Oliver himself (O’Neal). Note the tongue-in-cheek tone of the character:
The author of the book and screenwriter of the film Erich Segal told the New York Times in 1997 that the male hero of Love Story had been inspired by Al Gore and precisely Tommy Lee Jones, two people whom he had precisely rubbed shoulders with at Harvard during of a sabbatical leave. In this context, it was quite natural that he entrust a fourth role to Jones, meanwhile become an aspiring actor.
The actor’s contribution to the character, according to Segal? “He was the macho and tough guy but at heart also a poet”.
Find out how Alain Delon contributed to the film
After Love Story (1970), Jones’ career took a long time to take off, but in 1976 he landed a male lead role as a helping inmate in The Rape Prison and then the investigator in The Eyes of Laura Mars ( 1978). But the general public will find out later.
After a serial reputation for his Emmy nomination for Lonesome Dove, he played successively in mainstream films: JFK, Trap on the High Seas and The Fugitive, which earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.