Following the sad news of actress Olivia Newton-John's passing, Hollywood has begun paying tribute to the iconic singer-songwriter and actress, and leading the way in a sweet social media post is John Travolta, John-Newton's co-star in the hit 1978 musical romantic comedy, Grease, which contributed immensely to the success of their respective careers at the time. Travolta and Newton-John were the voices behind the duet “You’re the One That I Want” on the movie's soundtrack, which became one of the best selling movie soundtracks of all time, bested only by Travolta's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever released a year earlier.
Travolta and Newton-John played opposite each other as lovers Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson, whose romance begins after both greasers meet during the summer. “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” Travolta captioned a vintage photo of Newton-John posted to Instagram. He added, “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 moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”
From on-screen lovers, Travolta and Newton-John became life-long friends and attended events together in honor of the film's anniversary. One of their most memorable recent outings to celebrate the movie was at the film's 40th-anniversary screening in 2018, where both took to the red carpet to delight the audience with a recreation of their dance moves from the movie. Grease was a tremendous box office success, pulling $366.2 million against a meager budget of $6 million. Travolta and Newton-John's roles would remain one of the most iconic of their careers, helping to morph Grease into a franchise. A sequel to the original film Grease 2 was released in 1982 with Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as leads. A series, as well as a prequel, titled Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, and titled Summer Lovin', were in 2020 announced to be in production at Paramount+.
Olivia Newton-John's death was revealed in a Facebook post via her verified account. “Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” the post read. While the cause of death was not revealed in the statement, Newton-John was known to have batted breast cancer beginning in her forties. She doggedly fought off the disease on two occasions but unfortunately, the cancer returned in 2017 progressing to stage IV. Newton-John shared her cancer experience with the public and started the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, a non-profit aimed at researching the use of plant medicine including cannabis to treat cancer. Her obituary called for donations to be made to the foundation to preserve Newton-John's legacy.
Newton-John's last movie appearance before her death was in The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (2020), an Australian comedy where she played the role of Olivia. Newton-John won 4 Grammy Awards among a host of other prestigious awards. She was 73 years old and is survived by her husband, John Easterling, daughter, Chloe Lattanzi among other relations.