Olivia A New Hollywood Star Is Born
A MEMBER of Olivia Newton-John’s band once told me, “Olivia is amazing to work with. She is every high-school boy’s dream of what a high-school girl should be like grown up.”
The thought must have occurred to Los Angeles producer Allan Carr. Four months ago, during a dinner party at Helen Reddy’s home, he confronted one of the guests.
“You are adorable. You are bright. And you are beautiful,” he said. “Why aren’t you in the movies?”
“I’d like to be,” said Olivia Newton-John.
The upshot? After years of plodding through scripts in search of a suitable role for her Hollywood debut, Olivia has landed one of the year’s plum roles in the screen version of Grease, a wildly successful Broadway show, She plays the role of Sandy, a sweetly naive child of the ’60s a high school girl.
It’s a role which “every actress in the world seemed to test for”, according to the public relations giri at Paramount. The choice of Olivia was by no means automatic. “She was up against some very tough opposition,” said the spokeswoman from Paramount.
Strong contenders for the part included Cheryl Ladd, who is Farrah Fawcett-Majors replacement in Charlie’s Angels, and Marie Osmond.
The producers knew Olivia could handle the movie’s eight songs, and the dancing, but as an actress she was an unknown quantity.
“She did the screen test on a Friday,” says Beverley Magid, from Olivia’s public relations company. “At that time they were still holding the role open in case she couldn’t act. By Monday afternoon she was in rehearsals.”
Allan Carr is already raving about the results. “She is better than good,” he says. “She is absolutely fantastic.”
The screen test involved two love songs between Olivia as Sandy, and the film’s other star, John Travolta, 22, who plays Vinnie Barbarino in TV’s Welcome Back Kotter. The two had to act out a tense moment when Sandy is reunited with her summer love, Danny, who seems to be going cold on the affair.
A major worry the producers had was that Olivia, who is now 28, would look too old to play a love struck teeny bopper. But on the screen test she came up looking “like a kid”, according to the Paramount spokeswoman.
It is by no means certain that all this will lead Olivia automatically into a fully-fledged acting career.
“With her sweet open face she looks very young on camera, and that could be a drawback.” says the Paramount casting director. “It may take her time after this film to get major movie roles, but she does have a quality that is very special.”
Olivia leaped straight into the film from the rigours of a European tour and another across America, with hardly time to put on her bobby-socks. But according to friends she is “incredibly high about everything. This is a very good time for her”.
She has been learning her dances for the role from Patricia Burke, who choreographed many famous musicals, including Hair and Grease in New York. During the next three months Olivia expects to work 11 to 12 hours a day, four days a week. In between filming she will be fulfilling singing engagements and even commercials.
As soon as her short-term personal engagements are over her hairdresser Arthur John may be called on to concoct one of those pert, pixie-with-a-fringe hairstyles. Her wardrobe will be kick-pleated skirts, bobby-socks and bubblegum.
“This is a wonderful thing that has happened to Olivia,” says a close personal friend. “Let’s face it, she has gone as far as she could as a singer. She was ready for a change.”
Filming of Grease started in Los Angeles this week. Says Olivia: “I’m having a ball. It’s the best time ever. It’s like being back in high school.”
From Julia Orange in Los Angeles