Al Gore vs. Terry Lenzner: Who was the real Oliver of ‘Love Story’?

Washington Post ^ | October 10

[nickcarraway]

An intriguing tidbit in our colleague Rich Leiby’s profile of Washington private eye Terry Lenzner. Seems that he was the inspiration for Oliver Barrett IV, the Harvard ice-hockey player at the center of his friend Erich Segal’s weepy romantic novel “Love Story.”

Or, at least, one of them.

Consider: Lenzner, now 74, grew up with a wealthy, domineering father who pushed him to excel in prep-school sports and the Ivy League; he went to Exeter and Harvard, where he played football — and became good friends with Segal, then a tutor.

Segal went on to write “Love Story,” which was turned into the hit movie starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw, whose spunky bohemian character famously informs his smug preppy character that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Not quite true, actually, but memorable. The character of Oliver was also a jock with rich but difficult dad, who went to Exeter and Harvard — and, notes Leiby, “in the book, his height and weight are exactly the same as Lenzner’s.”

[latina4dubya]

perhaps he took a little from here and a little from there and a lot from here to come up with a composite of preppy Oliver...

[MUDDOG]

Next you’ll be telling me he didn’t invent the Internet.

[BigEdLB]

Al Gore invented the internet, so he must have been the inspiration....

[Liberty Valance]

Didn’t Al Gore say Love Story was based on him?

[nickcarraway]

Yes.

[TurboZamboni]

Love means getting sued for releasing your 2nd chakra.

[Liberty Valance]

Kiss my cash and call it a love story ...

[spawn44]

That’s BS. Al’s was SEX POODLE STORY

[a fool in paradise]

Which one of Obama’s “composite girlfriends” in his book was really based on Al Gore?

[GreatRoad]

I was told the book was based on the author himself.
The author was a Harvard friend of one of my in-laws.

[Brad from Tennessee]

[Al Gore has often stated that the plot is based on his life at Harvard; in 1997 Segal explained that “only the emotional family baggage of the romantic hero...was inspired by a young Al Gore. But it was Gore's Harvard roommate, Tommy Lee Jones who inspired the half of the character that was a sensitive stud, a macho athlete with the heart of a poet”. Erich Segal had met both Mr. Jones and Mr. Gore at Harvard in 1968, when he was there on sabbatical.[2]]

—Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Story_%28novel%29

[musicman]

Help FR Continue the Conservative Fight!
Your Monthly and Quarterly Donations
Help Keep FR In the Battle!

Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!