Erich Segal
Born	Erich Wolf Segal (1937-06-16)June 16, 1937 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	January 17, 2010(2010-01-17) (aged 72)
Occupation	Author, screenwriter, educator
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University
www.erichsegal.com

Erich Wolf Segal (June 16, 1937 – January 17, 2010) was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best known for writing the novel Love Story (1970), a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit.

Early life[link]

The son of a rabbi, Segal attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and traveled to Switzerland to take summer courses. He attended Harvard College, graduating as both the class poet and Latin salutatorian in 1958, after which he obtained his master's degree (in 1959) and a doctorate (in 1965) in comparative literature, from Harvard University.^[1]

Teaching career[link]

Segal was a professor of Greek and Latin literature at Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University. He had been a Supernumerary Fellow and subsequently an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.^[2]

Writing career[link]

His first academic book, Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus, revolutionized the great Roman comic playwright best known today as the inspiration for the Broadway hit, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.^{[citation needed]} In 2001 Harvard published his The Death of Comedy, the all-encompassing literary history.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Yellow Submarine

In 1967, from the story by Lee Minoff, he wrote the screenplay for The Beatles' 1968 motion picture, Yellow Submarine.

[edit] Love Story

In the late 1960s, Segal collaborated on other screenplays, and also had written a synthetic romantic story by himself about a Harvard student and a Radcliffe student, but failed to sell it. However, literary agent Lois Wallace at the William Morris Agency suggested he turn the script into a novel and the result was a literary and motion picture phenomenon called Love Story. A New York Times No. 1 bestseller, the book became the top selling work of fiction for 1970 in the United States, and was translated into 33 languages worldwide. The motion picture of the same name was the number one box office attraction of 1970.

Segal went on to write more novels and screenplays, including the 1977 sequel to Love Story, called Oliver's Story.

[edit] Writing and teaching after Love Story

He published a number of scholarly works as well as teaching at the university level. He acted as a visiting professor for the University of Munich, Princeton University, and Dartmouth College. He wrote widely on Greek and Latin literature. His novel The Class (1985), a saga based on the Harvard Class of 1958, was also a bestseller, and won literary honour in France and Italy.^{[citation needed]} Doctors was another New York Times bestseller from Segal.

Family[link]

Segal was married to Karen James from 1975; they had two daughters, Miranda and Francesca Segal. Francesca, born in 1980, is a freelance journalist and literary critic and currently The Observer's Debut Fiction columnist.

Death[link]

Segal, who suffered from Parkinson's disease,^[3] died of a heart attack on January 17, 2010,^[4] and was buried in London. In a eulogy delivered at his funeral, his daughter Francesca said, "That he fought to breathe, fought to live, every second of the last 30 years of illness with such mind-blowing obduracy, is a testament to the core of who he was -- a blind obsessionality that saw him pursue his teaching, his writing, his running and my mother, with just the same tenacity. He was the most dogged man any of us will ever know."^[5]

Filmography[link]

• Yellow Submarine (1968)
• The Games (1970)
• R.P.M. (1970)
• Love Story (1970)
• Jennifer on My Mind (1971)
• Oliver's Story (1978)
• A Change of Seasons (1980)
• Man, Woman and Child (1983)
• Doctors (1988)

Bibliography[link]

• Segal, Erich (1970) [1968], Roman laughter : the comedy of Plautus, Harvard studies in comparative literature, Harvard University Press, OCLC 253490621 
• Segal, Erich (1968), Euripides. A collection of critical essays, Prentice-Hall, OCLC 490074853 
• Segal, Erich (1993) [1970], Love Story, Oxford bookworms, Oxford University Press, OCLC 271780786 
• Segal, Erich (1973), Fairy tale, Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN 978-0-340-17703-7, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/476324471 
• Segal, Erich (1977), Oliver's Story, Granada, ISBN 978-0-246-11007-7 
• Segal, Erich (1980), Man, Woman and Child, Granada, ISBN 978-0-246-11364-1 
• Segal, Erich (1983), Oxford readings in Greek tragedy, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-872110-9, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/489881338 
• Millar, Fergus; Erich Segal (1984). Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814858-5. 
• Segal, Erich (1985), The Class, Bantam, ISBN 978-0-593-01004-4 
• Segal, Erich (1988), Doctors, Toronto, ISBN 978-0-553-05294-7 
• Segal, Erich (1992), Acts of Faith, OCLC 472522180 
• Segal, Erich (1995), Prizes, Bantam, ISBN 978-0-593-03837-6 
• Segal, Erich (1996), Four comedies : the braggart soldier, the brothers Menaechmus, the haunted house, the pot of gold, World's classics, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-283108-8, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57136525 
• Segal, Erich (1997), Only love, G.P. Putnam's Sons, ISBN 978-0-399-14341-0 
• Segal, Erich (2001), The death of comedy, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-00643-0, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/464104819 
• Segal, Erich (2001), Oxford readings in Menander, Plautus, and Terence, Oxford Univ. Press, ISBN 978-0-19-872193-2, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/248042166 
• Pelzer, Linda C. (1997), Erich Segal: A Critical Companion, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-29930-7 

See also[link]

• Love means never having to say you're sorry

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Erich Segal Website
• Erich Segal at the Internet Movie Database
• Weber, Bruce (January 20, 2010). "Erich Segal, 'Love Story' Author, Dies". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/books/20segal.html. Retrieved 19 January 2010. 

Arthur Hiller
Born	(1923-11-22) November 22, 1923 (age 88) Edmonton, Canada
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1955 - 2006

Arthur Hiller, OC (born 22 November 1923) is a Canadian film director. His filmography includes 33 major studio releases, including the 1970 film Love Story. A film festival in Hiller's name was held each spring from 2006 until 2009 at his alma mater, Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts, in tribute for his continued support of the school.

Early life[link]

Hiller was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and graduated from University College, University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, a Master of Arts degree in psychology in 1950 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1995.

Career[link]

Hiller began his show business career in television for the CBC in Toronto in the 1950s, and was a successful television director before moving into films and Hollywood. In the 1950s Hiller directed an episode of the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents entitled "Disappearing Trick" which starred Betsy von Furstenberg and Robert Horton. He also directed a number of episodes of Thriller.

In an interview with journalist Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life^[1], Hiller noted the film Rome, Open City to have had a strong influence on his career.

It just felt so real to me and so good. I didn't jump and say, “Oh, I want to make movies like that,” but I guess I was feeling that without realizing it. The same as when I finally woke up and said, “I want to be a director.”^[2]

Hiller served as President of the Directors Guild of America from 1989 to 1993 and President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1993 to 1997. He was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony in recognition of his humanitarian, charitable and philanthropic efforts.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, he was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.^[3]

Personal life[link]

He and his wife Gwen have been married since 1948. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Arthur Hiller at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Films of Arthur Hiller", video, 6 minutes