CALIFORNIA. The role of “Sandy” in the musical Grease made her immortal. But now singer and actress Olivia-Newton John has lost the battle with cancer that she had fought for 30 years. The 73-year-old died on Monday surrounded by her family at her ranch in Southern California, her husband John Easterling said on Facebook.
Breakthrough with cult musical
Her big break came in 1978 with the cult musical Grease, when she played “Sandy” alongside John Travolta. The film was a worldwide success, as was the soundtrack with “You’re The One That I Want” or “Summer Nights”. Just two years later, Olivia Newton-John starred in Xanadu, another musical film. The film itself flopped, but the soundtrack was a hit with audiences, staying at number 1 in the US for weeks.
At the end of 1981, she spent ten weeks at number one on the US singles chart with “Physical”. It was the longest-charting single of the 1980s in the United States, despite a boycott by some radio stations who found the lyrics too daring. Olivia Newton John has also recorded two of her hits in German, “Down by the river called Ohio” and “Long Live Love”.
In 1984 she married the dancer Matt Lattanzi, in 1986 their daughter Chloe Rose Lattanzi saw the light of day. The actress was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. She went public to raise awareness of the disease. “Being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 changed my attitude forever,” she said in a 2008 interview with the Guardian. She called her mastectomy “a very emotional thing,” but physically it was “not a big deal.” In 1996 the marriage with Lattanzi was divorced, since 2008 she was married to businessman John Easterling.
In May 2018, metastases were found in the actress again, and on September 10, 2018 it became public that Newton-John had suffered another recurrence of her breast cancer.
Source: Nachrichten
