Love Story is one of cinema's most iconic scores.
The lush central ballad, which helped composer Francis Lai win an Oscar, is instantly recognizable. And no matter where he goes in the world, star Ryan O'Neal is greeted with it.
But it could've been a lot worse for O'Neal. The filmmakers had originally hired Jimmy Webb, the songwriter behind pop hits like "MacArthur Park," to write music for the film. "He got the job to do the music originally, and he went away to the mountains or something to work on the score," O'Neal tells EW. "When he came back, he had this music that went, 'Jenny's dead, she's gone and she's dead.'"