Olivia Newton-John: how old was actress when she was in Grease with John Travolta - career movies and songs

Actress and singer Olivia Newton-John has died at the age of 73 after a 30 year battle with breast cancer.

She gained international fame when she starred opposite Hollywood star John Travolta in iconic 1970s musical film Grease.

Grease may be the film that Newton-John will be remembered for, but it was not the only film she was in.

The star also had a hugely successful singing career.

So, what films was Newton-John in, what songs did she sing, and also how old was she was she played a school student in Grease?

Here’s everything you need to know.

How old was Olivia Newton-John in Grease?

Olivia Newton-John was in her late twenties when she appeared as Sandra Olsson in the 1978 famous film Grease.

Sandra, who is affectionately known as Sandy or Sandra Dee, is the love interest of John Travolta’s Danny Zuko.

Sandy’s exact age is never given in the film, but in one of the musical’s iconic songs ‘Summer Nights’ Sandy tells the story of how she met Danny and sings “He was sweet, just turned 18”.

It’s assumed that Sandy is around the same age as Danny, especially considering that the two are in the same year at Rydell High.

Grease was filmed the year before it was released, in 1977, and Olivia Newton-John was at least 10 years older than the character she portrayed.

It is reported that she turned 29 during filming.

How old was Olivia Newton-John?

Olivia Newton-John was 73-years-old when she died on 8 August 2022.

She was born on 26 September 1948.

What films was Olivia Newton-John in?

Newton-John, who was a British-Australian who was born in Cambridge but moved to Australia with her family as a small child, began her acting career by appearing on Australian TV shows.

Grease (1978) was the first major film that Newton-John starred in, although she had previously appeared in science fiction musical Toomorrow (1970).

She went on to appear as the lead role in Xanadu (1980) and five years after the release of Grease, she starred opposite John Travolta again in the 1983 film Two of a Kind.

Most recently, she performed as Orion in TV film Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017), Barbara Ramme in A Few Best Men (2011) and Hope Gordon in Score: A Hockey Musical (2010).

What songs did Olivia Newton-John sing?

Newton-John was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included five number one hits and another ten Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

She also had two Billboard 200 number one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975).

Eleven of her singles, including two Platinum, and 14 of her albums, including two Platinum and four two times Platinum, have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to the present as she has global sales of more than 100 million records.

Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner I Honestly Love You (1974) and Physical (1981), which was Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Single of the 1980s.

Her other major hit singles include Hopelessly Devoted to You, another much-loved song from Grease.