From The Hollywood Reporter:
Olivia Newton-John, the angelic Australian singer who forged a hopelessly devoted following with her chart-topping hits “Physical,” “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “You’re the One That I Want,” her Grease duet with John Travolta, has died. She was 73.
Newton-John died Monday morning at her ranch in Southern California, her husband, John Easterling, announced on Facebook.
“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” he wrote. “Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer.”
Born in England and raised in Melbourne, Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, and she announced in May 2017 that after 25 years in remission the disease had spread to her lower back. The singer in August 2018 canceled a two-date tour just three weeks after announcing it; she was to reminisce about her career with an interviewer in Melbourne and Sydney.
A country-pop and soft-rock sensation in the 1970s and ’80s with girl-next-door appeal, Newton-John sold more than 100 million albums and had nearly 40 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 during her five decades in music.
Her popularity, however, reached another plateau after she was hired to play Rydell High good girl Sandy Olsson opposite Travolta as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978), Paramount’s adaptation of the musical that had bowed on Broadway in 1972 and would run for nearly 3,400 performances during its original run.
For the actress to star opposite 23-year-old Travolta, producer Allan Carr considered Carrie Fisher (Star Wars had yet to be released), Deborah Raffin, Susan Dey and Marie Osmond before he encountered Newton-John, then 29, at a dinner party hosted by singer Helen Reddy. Her previous movie, the little-seen English sci-fi flick Toomorrow (1970), had been a failure, and that had Newton-John wary.
“I was very anxious about making another film, because my music career was going well, and I did not want to mess it up by doing another movie that wasn’t good,” Newton-John told Vanity Fair in 2016.
As Carr tried to convince her to take the part — he promised to make her character Australian — Travolta also lobbied for her. “She had a brilliant voice, and I didn’t think there could be any more correct person for Sandy in the universe.”
In its review of Grease, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Newton-John projected “a youthful innocence and vulnerability” in her performance and likened her to a “kind of ’70s Debbie Reynolds.” Others compared her to Doris Day.
Made for just $6 million, Grease, directed by first-timer Randal Kleiser, went on to reel in $395 million ($1.7 billion in today’s dollars), becoming the highest-grossing American movie musical of the 20th century. Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and two duets with Travolta, “You’re the One That I Want” and “Summer Nights,” became instant classics.
Travolta reacted to her death in an Instagram post:
“My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!"
Don-O here. Well, I might as well put in a quote of my own and it's from the late great New Orleans musician, Allen Toussiant:
"Don’t be sad that they are gone, be glad for the time that they were here."
I will still be watching Xanadu today (August 8th, ya know) but now it's for celebrating Olivia AND this movie.
Thanks for everything, Olivia!
Don-O
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