Did You Know?
Both the Cornell and Dartmouth hockey teams were played by Dartmouth's actual team. Cornell hockey coach Ned Harkness only allowed Cornell jerseys to be used in the film on the condition that Cornell win the game with Harvard.
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Author Erich Segal wrote the screenplay first, then adapted it into a novel - which was published before the film's release and became a runaway bestseller.
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Eight up-and-coming actors including Michael Douglas, Jon Voight and Peter Fonda turned down the role of Oliver, despite being offered 10% of the gross.
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According to Robert Evans in his memoirs the 8 actors who declined the role of Oliver were Beau Bridges, Jon Voight, Michael Sarrazin, Michael Douglas, Michael York (who turned it down because he didn't believe it would be a hit), Peter Fonda, Jeff Bridges and Keith Carradine.
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Incoming freshman at Harvard University, where the movie takes place, are traditionally shown a screening of the film at which they indulge in ritualized mass heckling.
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The first television showing on this film, on ABC-TV in 1972, marked the shortest time span up to then between a film's theatrical release and first showing on television.
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The scenes with Oliver walking alone through a snowy New York were added after principal photography was completed. The production was almost out of money and did not have the necessary funds for permits to shoot in New York City again - so all the shots were grabbed "illegally" using a skeleton film crew and Ryan O'Neal.
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The most famous line from the film, "Love means never having to say you're sorry", was actually misspoken from the script. Originally the line was supposed to be: "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."
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The movie's line "Love means never having to say you're sorry." was voted as the #13 movie quote by the American Film Institute
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This movie marked Ray Milland's first film appearance without the hairpiece he had worn for decades.
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Christopher Walken, David Birney, and Ken Howard screen-tested for the role of Oliver. Despite Arthur Hiller's preference for Walken, Robert Evans preferred Ryan O'Neal, describing him as "a reactor rather than an actor".
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Film debut of Tommy Lee Jones, an actual Harvard graduate. Writer Erich Segal based Ryan O'Neal's character on Jones, and on his Harvard roommate, future Vice-President Al Gore.
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John Wayne refused to believe that Love Story "sold because the girl went around saying 'shit' all the way through it." Instead he believed that "the American public wanted to see a little romantic story."
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Ryan O'Neal learned to ice-skate and Ali McGraw learned to play the harpsichord in preparation for their roles.
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In What's Up, Doc?, Barbra Streisand tells 'Ryan O'Neal (I)' (QV), "Love means never having to say you're sorry." O'Neal responds, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
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