Grease, After They Were Famous

Great songs, romance and John Travolta strutting his stuff - Grease couldn’t fail. As ITV1 shows the film on Sunday, followed by an After They Were Famous special on Tuesday, David Hollingsworth finds out what happened to the cast.

T-Birds

JOHN TRAVOLTA (who played Danny)
John, now 48, was riding high on the success of Saturday Night Fever (1977) when he danced his white socks off again in Grease the following year. But by the late Eighties and early Nineties, the box office love affair with Travolta was over, and it took his role as hitman Vincent Vega in the Quentin Tarantino film. Pulp Fiction (1994), to rescue his career.

Hits like Get Shorty (1995) and Face/Off (1997) followed, but it all went wrong again in 2000 with his mega flop, Battlefield Earth. Last year’s Swordfish and Domestic Disturbance also didn’t fare as well as expected. Will he be the comeback kid again? Knowing John, anything’s possible. Off-screen he’s happily married to actress Kelly Preston. and has two children, jet, 10, and Ella, two.

JEFF CONAWAY (Kenickie)
Kenickie was a ‘tough macho kind of guy who famously gave cinema’s biggest love bite to girlfriend Rizzo, Jeff, now 52, won the role after playing Danny in the original Broadway production of the musical. After Grease, he went on to star as Bobby in the US sitcom, Taxi, and also had a role in the popular soap, The Bold and The Beautiful.

He married Olivia Newton-John’s sister Rona, in 1980, but sadly the relationship failed. After beating drug problems, Jeff, who’s now happily married to second wife, Kerri, found religion. “Through faith and the help of others, I turned my life around,” he says.

MICHAEL TUCCI (Sonny)
Sonny may not have had much luck with the girls, but Michael, now 52, still had a great time on Grease. “To be part of something that turns out to be so successful for so many generations is a great honour,” he says.

Michael’s enjoyed roles on US TV since then, and had a part in the Johnny Depp film Blow (2001). But he’s largely stayed out of the limelight, concentrating on his career as a teacher. “Someone will say in class - weren’t you Sonny in Grease?” he laughs. Michael’s married and has two children, Kelly, six, and Kate, 13.

BARRY PEARL (Doody)
Doody remains 52-year-old Barry’s most famous part-and topping that fame has since proved difficult. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily done incredible things for my career”, he sighs.

Since Grease, Barry’s had small roles in TV series such as Murder She Wrote and Baywatch. He has, though, enjoyed success as Professor Tinkerputt in the hit American children’s show, Barney, while off-screen he’s married to actress Heather Brown.

KELLY WARD (Putzie)
Kelly, now 46 and married to Annette, enjoyed singing as naive Putzie and had a favourite song. “It’s Greased Lightning,” he says. “I love it because it’s so exuberant.”

After appearing in TV shows like Magnum Pland a remake of Maverick called Bret Maverick, Kelly made a name for himself in animation, directing a 1996 TV series based on 101 Dalmatians and writing the script for All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (also 1996).

The Pink Ladies

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (Sandy)
Sandy and Danny looked perfect together. And Olivia Newton-John is happy to explain why “John’s a lovely man,” she says.

Less lovely were Sandy’s sexy, but tight, Spandex trousers at the end of the film. “They literally had to sew me into them,” she admits. “I couldn’t drink a lot because I didn’t want to have to pee!”

After Grease, Olivia, now 54, starred in Xanadu (1980) and teamed up again with John Travolta in Two of a Kind (1983). At the same time, she switched from singing country music to pop. But in 1992, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a partial mastectomy “I never thought, “Why me?” I’m so lucky to be here and I treasure every moment,” she says.

Now divorced from actor Matt Lattanzi, with whom she had a daughter, Chloe, the British born actress lives with cameraman Patrick McDermott in Malibu, California.

STOCKARD CHANNING (Rizzo)
Stockard played Rizzo-the loud-mouthed, teenaged leader of the Pink Ladies-when she was 34 Since then she’s been arguably the most successful of the gang, receiving a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role in the film, Six Degrees of Separation (1993).

Now 58, Stockard’s hugely popular as Abby Bartlet in the hit US series, The West Wing, and lives with cameraman Daniel Gillham.

DIDI CONN (Frenchy) The 51-year-old actress was the only original cast member to appear in Grease 2.

Off-screen, Didi was devastated by the news that her son was autistic, but Olivia Newton-John helped her cope. “She was there for me, suggesting people to call,” says Didi, who’s married to composer David Shire.

Didi’s now aiming to set up a Grease Foundation, to help children like her son.

DINAH MANOFF (Marty)
Dinah, now 44, may have played a sex kitten, but off-screen she thought she was ugly and couldn’t act. Neither was true and in 1980, she won a prestigious Tony Award for her role in Neil Simon’s Broadway show, Ought to be in Pictures. She now acts in and directs various American TV shows.

Married to Arthur, Dinah has a five-year-old son, Dashiell, and twin 11-month-old boys, Desi and Oliver