<p>Francesca Segal said on Tuesday her father died on Sunday at his home in London. She said he had suffered from Parkinson's disease -- a neurological condition that affects movement -- for 25 years. His funeral was held in London on Tuesday, she said.<br /><br />Segal was a Yale classics professor and screenplay writer when he turned a proposed movie about two college students -- preppy Oliver and smart-mouthed Jenny -- into a novel.<br /><br />Published in 1970, "Love Story" was a weeper about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. It was a million seller guaranteed to make readers cry and critics scream.<br /><br />A much bigger audience caught up with the film version, which starred Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. Directed by Arthur Hiller, with a plaintive, Henry Mancini-composed theme song that wouldn't quit, "Love Story" gained seven Oscar nominations -- including one for Segal for writing the screenplay, as well as for best picture, best director and best actor and actress. It won one Oscar, for best music.<br /><br />Segal also wrote a sequel, "Oliver's Story," published in 1977, and made into a film, with O'Neal again in the lead male role. Segal would later say that Oliver was based in part on a couple of Harvard undergraduates who later became quite well known: Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones. (He disputed reports that Jenny was based on Gore's future wife, Tipper).</p>
<p>Francesca Segal said on Tuesday her father died on Sunday at his home in London. She said he had suffered from Parkinson's disease -- a neurological condition that affects movement -- for 25 years. His funeral was held in London on Tuesday, she said.<br /><br />Segal was a Yale classics professor and screenplay writer when he turned a proposed movie about two college students -- preppy Oliver and smart-mouthed Jenny -- into a novel.<br /><br />Published in 1970, "Love Story" was a weeper about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. It was a million seller guaranteed to make readers cry and critics scream.<br /><br />A much bigger audience caught up with the film version, which starred Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. Directed by Arthur Hiller, with a plaintive, Henry Mancini-composed theme song that wouldn't quit, "Love Story" gained seven Oscar nominations -- including one for Segal for writing the screenplay, as well as for best picture, best director and best actor and actress. It won one Oscar, for best music.<br /><br />Segal also wrote a sequel, "Oliver's Story," published in 1977, and made into a film, with O'Neal again in the lead male role. Segal would later say that Oliver was based in part on a couple of Harvard undergraduates who later became quite well known: Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones. (He disputed reports that Jenny was based on Gore's future wife, Tipper).</p>
