Grease is one of the most-loved musicals to grace our screens. With hit songs such as Summer Nights and You're The One That I Want, it has been a popular choice with lovers of both stage and screen.
Remarkably, it has now been over four decades since the film first had audiences wanting to jive out of the cinema, but the characters continue to be loved and adored. However, time has brought tragedy, heartbreak, addiction and more to the cast.
Most recently, Olivia Newton-John died aged 73 after a 30-year battle with breast cancer. Announcing the news on social media, her husband John Easterling said she died surrounded by her friends and family in southern California.
Olivia, along with John Travolta, will forever be recognised as the loved-up Sandy and Danny who did some summer loving. But what have the other students of Ryedale High been up to since then? HullLive has taken a look at what the cast have done since the film was released.
John Travolta - Danny Zuko
John Travolta, now 68, is the biggest star to come from Grease after playing hunk Danny, fresh from his starring role as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. After Grease, Travolta starred in comedies like Look Who's Talking but spent a a decade in the Z-list wilderness, before 1994's Pulp Fiction came along.
He's had several successes over the last couple of decades, from Wild Hogs, Hairspray, From Paris With Love to Get Shorty,The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. Travolta has also suffered two agonising tragedies.
His son Jett, who had autism, died aged 16 in 2009 after a seizure on a family holiday and his actress wife, Kelly Preston, Jett's mum, died in 2020 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. Travolta and Preston had set up a foundation in Jett's name to help children with special needs.
Travolta also led tributes for his co-star Olivia Newton-John and wrote: "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!”
Olivia Newton-John - Sandy
Australian actress Olivia Newton-John sadly passed away on the morning of August 8, after battling breast cancer for over 30 years. She played the lead role of sweet and innocent Sandy who becomes a Pink Lady and gets the man of her dreams.
Following the success of the film, she went on to have more pop success with songs such as Physical, and has been touring ever since. In May 2017, it was announced that her breast cancer had returned and metastasized to her lower back and she battled the illness until this week.
She inspired many cancer survivors all over the world by becoming an activist for cancer awareness and launched her own foundation named Newton-John. The foundation will continue to campaign for plant medicine and cancer research in her memory.
Stockard Channing - Rizzo
Stockard, now 78, will forever be remembered for her iconic role as Rizzo. But the star has continued to have successful acting gigs since her Grease days, and won numerous awards, making her one of the stars that has continued to shine over the four decades.
She's been nominated for an Oscar (for Six Degrees of Separation), various Golden Globes and has won an Emmy and Tony award. She starred in The West Wing, The Good Wife, and is a regular on the Broadway stage.
Jeff Conway - Kenickie
Tragically Jeff, who played bad boy Kenickie died at age 60, in 2011, from pneumonia after years battling addiction. At one point, Jeff was married to Olivia Newton-John's older sister, Rona, for five years.
But he had a long-running battle with cocaine, alcohol and painkiller addiction. He said a back injury while filming the 'Greased Lightnin' song had partly been to blame for starting his descent into addiction
His biggest role was certainly in Grease, but the star also kept working in TV and film starring in Happy Days and Taxi before appearing in reality shows covering addiction in the years before his death.
Didi Conn - Frenchy
Didi, now 71, regularly refers back to her Grease days and still loves wearing her Pink Ladies jacket. She has continued to act over the years, appearing in around 40 TV and movie projects, including Happy Days, Cagney & Lacey, Grease 2, Transparent and The Wild Thornberrys.
She also came to the UK in 2019 to star on ITV's Dancing on Ice.
Jamie Donnelly - Jan
Jamie, now 75, played the dorky one of Pink Ladies. She has continued to act and starred in Can’t Hardly Wait, Cyrus, Veep and Ray Donovan.
Barry Pearl - Doody
Doody was the goofy, fun-loving boyfriend of Frenchy. After Grease, Barry, now 72, went on to appear in several TV movies and a string of American TV series, ranging from an arms dealer to "Professor Tinkerputt" in the hit children's show Barney's Imagination Island.
He has also made stage appearances on Broadway and teaches film arts to people with special needs community with the Inclusion Film Company founded by Joey Travolta, John's brother.
Michael Tucci - Sonny
Sonny is the brash, wise-cracking Italian, played in the movie by Michael Tucci, now 76. Tucci became a TV household name as long-running characters in Diagnosis: Murder alongside Dick Van Dyke and on the comedy series It's Garry Shandling's Show. In between acting he has also been a high school teacher and acting coach.
Dinah Manoff - Marty
Tony Award-winning Dinah, now 66, went on to feature in films including Child’s Play, Welcome Home and Ordinary People after Grease. She was best known in the States for her long-running role in Empty Nest, a spin-off from The Golden Girls, from 1988 to 1995.
She has also directed several TBV shows and appeared at various Grease celebrations. But she has not had any acting credits since 2008. Tragically, her 19-year-old son Dashiell, who was a young actor in college, died in a car crash near their home in Seattle in 2017.
Dennis C Stewart - Leo 'Craterface'
Actor and dancer Dennis famously played the ultimate bad boy in Craterface, and he later returned for the sequel in 1982. He went on to have various roles on TV and film over the next decade.
Fifteen years after he landed the role of Leo, the actor contracted HIV. In 1994, he died at the age of 46 due to complications from AIDS.
Eddie Deezen- Eugene Felsnic
Eddie Deezen, now 65, landed a role playing nerdy student Eugene Felsnic in Grease. He later tried his hand in the world of voice acting.
However, his life recently took a turn when it was reported that he was arrested for allegedly forcing himself into a nursing home in April. Prosecutors brought the charges of assault and disorderly conduct against him.
According to reports, he is said to be considered a danger to himself and those around him by officials. He is deemed not competent to stand trial for mental health reasons.
