Born in Brooklyn in 1937, he graduated from Harvard with a Bachelors in 1958, a Masters in 1959, and his Doctorate in 1964. At commencement in 1958, he became the first person in Harvard history to be selected as both Latin Salutatory Orator and Class Poet. He taught at Harvard before moving to Yale in 1964 and has since been Visiting Professor in Classics at Princeton and the University of Munich. In 1987 he retired as Adjunct Professor of Classics at Yale and is now a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.

Known more for his fictional work than academics, Professor Segal has actually published widely on Greek Tragedy, Latin Poetry and ancient athletics. He has delivered papers before the American Philological Association, The American Comparative Literature Association, as well as the German, Italian, and British Classical Societies. In addition, his most important academic book is Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus, and over the past quarter-century, his verse translations of the Roman playwright Plautus have won considerable acclaim.

His parallel, and more conspicuous, career in "pop" literature began as a schoolboy hobby. He then collaborated on the famous Harvard Hasty Pudding Club show in 1958. While pursuing his PhD and beginning his academic career, he also wrote several screenplays--the most successful being The Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. He spent his summers in Hollywood and his winters at Yale.

His quietly equilibrated existence was upset overnight in 1970, when his first novel was published. Love Story was an immediate sensation, ultimately selling more than twenty-one million copies in thirty-three languages. For his screenplay to Love Story, Mr. Segal received the 1970 Golden Globe Award as well as one of the film's seven Oscar nominations.

Also important -- and very much so, to Mr. Segal -- is that he enjoyed a conspicuously unsuccessful career as a long-distance runner and was at one time one of the world's best known mediocre athletes. He completed over forty full-length marathons, winning only one: March 17, 1963 in Washington, DC. As fate would have it, The New York Times was on strike, but the Washington Post duly recorded the historic event.

Erich Segal's bestselling novels include, The Class, Doctors, Acts of Faith, and Prizes, as well as Oliver's Story, the sequel to Love Story.


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