Arthur Hiller, versatile director of ‘Love Story,’ dies

In this May 22, 2008, photo, actress Ali MacGraw and director Arthur Hiller appear at an event honoring former Paramount Studios chief Robert Evans at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California. died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 92. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

In this May 22, 2008, photo, actress Ali MacGraw and director Arthur Hiller appear at an event honoring former Paramount Studios chief Robert Evans at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California. died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 92. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Arthur Hiller, who received an Oscar nomination for directing the hugely popular romantic tragedy “Love Story” during a career that spanned dozens of popular movies and TV shows, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 92.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced his death Wednesday. Hiller served as Academy president from 1993 to 1997.

Although since dismissed by some as overly syrupy, “Love Story,” with Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal as star-crossed Ivy League lovers, was one of the most popular movies of 1970. The film, based on the popular novel of the same name by Erich Segal, reduced thousands of moviegoers to tears and created a national catch phrase: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

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