John Joseph Travolta is an American actor and singer. He came to public notice during the 1970s, appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Urban Cowboy.
Uncovered records suggest that John Travolta “convinced” co-star Olivia Newton-John to audition for her legendary part as Sandy in Grease, despite her dread of not getting it, according to uncovered accounts.
Grease remains one of the world’s most popular musicals and was crucial for kickstarting the careers of its performers such as Travolta and Newton-John. Audiences were enthralled with the school-romance tale, that saw Travolta’s bad boy character Danny Zuko and Newton-Australian John’s transfer student Sandy Olsson develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance. On its first weekend, Grease pulled in staggering ticket sales of $9.3million (£7.3million) at the box office, while four of its hits entered the Billboard Top 10, generating 13 million sold copies.
From a $6 million budget, the picture grossed approximately $400 million (£335 million) and was turned into over 123,000 stage musical plays.
For three decades, it was the highest-grossing movie musical of all time, until it was dethroned by the 2008 star-studded film Mamma Mia.
The film is so popular that it was shown again over the Easter weekend, with hundreds tuning in to see how the romance ended.
What is less well known is how influential Travolta was in persuading Newton-John to participate in a film audition.
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