In 1977, at the age of 33, Channing was cast for the role of high school teenager Betty Rizzo in the hit musical Grease. The film was released in 1978 and her performance earned her the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress.
Kelly Ward brought the youngest member of the T-Birds, Putzie, to life in a role specifically created for the film. Grease wasn't his first time working with costar John Travolta, as the two worked together on 1976's made-for-television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
Most of the lead stars were in their 20s and 30s while filming Grease with Travolta aged 23 and Newton-John aged 29, despite playing teenagers. However, casting director Joel Thurm has at long last explained why older actors were used, stressing that it was totally intentional.
The late Olivia Newton-John, who costarred as Sandy, was 29 at the time Grease was filmed; Stockard Channing, who played Rizzo, was the principal cast's oldest member at 33 during filming, according to a 2016 Vanity Fair article about the production.
How old was Olivia Newton-John when she was in Grease?
Disillusioned by her Toomorrow experience and concerned that she was too old to play a high school senior (she was 28 during the filming of Grease), Newton-John insisted on a screen test with the film's co-lead, John Travolta.
What Really Happened To The Girl Who Played Rizzo In Grease?
Did Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta get along Grease?
Danny and Sandy forever. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta were friends for more than four decades before she passed away at the age of 73. The actress and the Welcome Back, Kotter alum hit it off on the set of Grease, which hit theaters in 1978, portraying unlikely couple Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson.
They were the subject of persistent romance rumors after they steamed up screens in 1978's “Grease.” But Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta never got physical while filming the movie musical, and instead went on to share a 44-year friendship that remained strictly platonic.
Frenchy was played by Didi Conn, who was 26 while filming during the summer of 1977. Conn had appeared in multiple TV shows and movies before hitting it big with "Grease."
The Grease co-stars were still very close up until Olivia's death in August 2022, and even famously reunited in LA in 2002 to sing their classic hit 'You're The One That I Want'. John Travolta was a huge support to Olivia Newton-John as she underwent treatment for breast cancer.
She reprised her iconic role in the less-beloved sequel, Grease 2. In 2008, she was named a national celebrity spokesperson for Autism Speaks — her son, Daniel, has autism. Conn, now 71, also appeared in Grease Live! in 2016, playing Frosty Palace's head waitress, Vi.
The film is also notable for having Danny (played by John Travolta, who had already had top-40 hits before Grease) sing lead on the song, while Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) contributed with a few call-and-response lines.
With only a few television roles and small film appearances, Michelle Pfeiffer, then aged 23, was a relatively unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role of Stephanie. Other actresses considered for the part included Lisa Hartman, Kristy McNichol, Andrea McArdle, and singer Pat Benatar.
In a recently published oral history of Grease, Thurm, 80, has admitted the reason why a decision to cast older actors was made. “People might say the cast is too old, but Grease is not a documentary; it's a fantasy,” he told The Guardian. “It's a non-PC fairytale that is better for the cast not being teens.
Grease was shot in various locations across the Los Angeles area, from the lively South Bay to the charming Silverlake neighborhood. Much of the production was filmed on-site, including exterior shots of Rydell High, taken at Venice High School, Huntington Park High School, and John Marshall High School.
Another Grease actor has died. Annette Charles, who played Cha Cha Digregorio in the 1978 movie musical, lost her battle with cancer at age 63 on Wednesday, Access Hollywood reports.
Though the actors stayed in character as Sandy and Danny on set, their romance was limited to the script. In her autobiography, Newton-John recalls having a mutual "attraction" with Travolta but explains that they were both committed to other people.
"There was a lot of press speculation about whether they were romantically involved or not. But Olivia insisted, and always said, that Andy was one of her dearest friends. And even when Andy was alive, he would say the same thing about her. Some people have speculated on whether they were more than friends.
Osmond became the front-runner but dropped out in protest over Grease's ending and Carr turned to Olivia Newton-John instead. Rather than her be flattered, Newton-John was reluctant to commit because her musical career was going well and her film debut, Toomorrow, had tanked and she didn't want to make another flop.
As part of a three-picture deal with Stigwood, Travolta was given the lead role after Henry Winkler turned down the role for fear of being typecast as a greaser, having been playing the similar bad-boy greaser Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days since 1974. (Winkler would later regret the decision.)
Kirstie Alley Said More Than Once That John Travolta Was The Love Of Her Life. Kirstie Alley and John Travolta at the "Look Who's Talking" premiere in 1989. It seems one of Kirstie Alley's biggest regrets was that she never dated John Travolta.
Who was originally supposed to be Sandy in Grease?
Casting Sandy would prove trickier. Director Randal Kleiser saw rushes from a new film his old college buddy George Lucas was making, titled Star Wars, to see if its female lead, Carrie Fisher, could be a fit. She wasn't. Marie Osmond (left) and Carrie Fisher (right) were both considered for Olivia Newton-John's Sandy.
But perhaps the biggest reason Grease 2 was so hated by critics was because it ultimately felt like a tired rehash of a story played out better before. Even Grease 2's climactic number, “We'll Be Together,” felt like a watered-down, 80's power ballad update of Grease's massively popular tune “We Go Together.”
John Travolta was 23 at the time of filming, Olivia Newton-John was 29, and Stockard Channing was 33. Annette Charles, who played bad girl Cha Cha DiGregorio, was 30.
