The Australian actress and singer who was closely concerned in environmental causes will at all times be remembered as candy Sandy Olsson from Rydell Excessive College.
WASHINGTON — Olivia Newton-John, the British-Australian actress and singer who grew to become everybody’s sweetheart along with her portrayal of Sandy in “Grease,” died Monday morning, in keeping with an announcement posted on her official social media accounts. She was 73.
“Olivia has been a logo of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast most cancers,” the announcement from her husband, John Easterling stated. She handed away at her ranch in southern California.
Her household asks that any donations be made in her reminiscence to the Olivia Newton-John basis.
Newton-John was born in 1948 in Cambridge, England and moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was 5, in keeping with her web site.
Her rise to fame began with profitable a expertise competitors on a TV present. By 15, she was a part of an all-girl group referred to as Sol 4 and was repeatedly showing on Australian TV. She later made her manner again to England and joined Pat Carroll to grow to be one-half of the duo “Pat & Olivia.”
Newton-John’s first huge hit got here in 1973 with the country-influenced “Let Me Be There.” It ended up within the High 10 on the Billboard Scorching 100, Nation and Up to date charts. The album of the identical identify led to Newton-John profitable a Grammy as Greatest Nation Vocalist.
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She would observe that success with “I Truthfully Love You” — the primary of her 5 No. 1 hits on the Billboard chart. It gained her Grammys for Document Of The Yr and Greatest Feminine Pop Vocal Efficiency.
In 1981, in the course of the infancy of MTV, Newton-John launched “Bodily.” That track additionally topped the charts and was accompanied by an iconic video that mixed comedy and sexuality as obese males in a health club immediately reworked into their muscular alter egos.
In the midst of all this got here the position that launched her to super-stardom. She performed Sandy Olsson, the Australian teen who was reunited at Rydell Excessive College along with her summer season fling Danny Zuko (John Travolta) in 1978’s “Grease.” Her solo hit from that film, “Hopelessly Devoted To You” would earn her one other Grammy nomination for Greatest Feminine Pop Vocal Efficiency.
“My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so significantly better,” Travolta wrote in reminiscence of Newton-John. “Your impression was unbelievable. I like you a lot. We’ll see you down the street and we’ll all be collectively once more. Yours from the primary second I noticed you and eternally! Your Danny, your John!”
The success of “Grease” could be Newton-John’s pinnacle on the massive display. It was adopted up with marginal movies like “Xanadu” and a reunion with Travolta in “Two Of A Sort.” From there, it was largely smaller roles for her.
Away from the stage and display, Newton-John grew to become a nationwide treasure in Australia as a humanitarian, philanthropist and environmentalist. She hosted the syndicated TV present “Wild Life” and was the primary Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Surroundings Program. She was additionally a spokesperson for the Youngsters’s Well being Environmental Coalition and labored with the Rainforest Alliance. Newton-John additionally created Australia’s Nationwide Tree Day in 1996, serving to to plant 20 million bushes.
Queen Elizabeth bestowed Newton-John with the Order Of The British Empire in 1979. She additionally obtained the Officer of the Order of Australia, that nation’s highest honor.
Newton-John battled most cancers greater than as soon as and did so publicly. She was identified with breast most cancers in 1992 and beat it. Docs discovered most cancers in her shoulder after a 2013 automotive accident. Then in 2017, she discovered her breast most cancers returned and had unfold to her again, leading to a tumor on the base of her backbone.
The most cancers reached stage 4, and Newton-John revealed to “60 Minutes Australia” that she did not need to understand how a lot time she had.
“If anyone tells you, you may have six months to dwell, very probably you’ll since you consider that. So for me, psychologically, it is higher to not have any concepts of what they count on, or what the final person who has what you may have lived, so I do not tune in,” she stated.
Olivia Newton-John is survived by her husband, “Amazon John” Easterling. Collectively they had been devoted to causes to guard the Amazon rainforest. She additionally has a daughter, Chloe, from her first marriage to Matt Lattanzi.
