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Singer Olivia Newton-John, who became world famous for her role as Sandy, the high school sweetheart, in the hit film ‘Grease’, died on Monday after a 30-year battle with cancer. She was 73 years old.
Newton-John “passed away peacefully at her ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” according to a statement from her husband, John Easterling, posted on his official social media accounts.
The artist, whose career spanned more than five decades, devoted much of her time and fame to charity after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.
The British-born, Australian-raised star dedicated several albums and concerts to raising funds for research and early detection of the disease, including building a health center named after him in his adopted city of Melbourne.
“I don’t like to say ‘battled’,” a defiant Newton-John told Australia’s Channel Seven TV in September 2018, after revealing she had been diagnosed with cancer for the third time.
“I like to say ‘overcome,’ because ‘battled’ sets up this anger and inflammation that you don’t want.”
‘You’re the one that I want’
Newton-John was known worldwide for starring in the 1978 musical film ‘Grease’ opposite John Travolta, in the role of the girl next door, Sandy, who changed her ankle-length skirt and her hair done for tight black pants and a permanent.
The high school sweetheart turned bad girl resonated with audiences around the world, and continues to captivate hearts decades after the film’s release.
“Making it was fun, but you never know with movies whether or not audiences are going to follow through, even if you love it,” he said in a 2018 Forbes magazine interview.
“It’s amazing that it’s still going, but it’s not even just that, it shows no signs of stopping. You say ‘Sandy and Danny’ and people instantly know what you’re talking about.”
“Grease” remained the top-grossing musical for three decades, and Newton-John and Travolta remained close long after the film was made.
“She was my favorite thing about doing Grease,” Travolta said in an interview on the occasion of the film’s 40th anniversary in 2018.
There was no one else “in the universe” who could play Sandy, she said of Newton-John, who turned 29 during the filming of “Grease” and later revealed she had to be talked into taking the part by Travolta after her doubts that she was too old to play a teenager.
“If you were a young man in the ’70s… if you remember that record cover with Olivia in that blue shirt on, with those big blue eyes staring back at you,” Travolta recalled.
“Every guy’s dream, every man’s dream, was, ‘Oh, I would love that girl to be my girlfriend.'”
Her professional career spanned from singer and actress to author and philanthropist in the decades that followed, with her passion for cancer research at the forefront, championing natural therapies, including medical cannabis in cancer treatment.
He performed until the late ’60s, until his last diagnosis, including a two-year residency in Las Vegas, a 2015 tour with Australian music legend John Farnham, and even recording a club dance track at age 67 with his daughter Chloe Lattanzi.
“I’ve done it all, and the icing on the cake, too,” he said, reflecting on his career.
“So I feel grateful for whatever happens now.”
*With AFP; adapted from its original English version
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