Olivia Newton-John, the world-renowned music star who found fame playing Sandy in the film Grease, has died aged 73.

The role in the 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical saw Newton-John take the lead opposite John Travolta, and together, their careers soared. Grease became the biggest box office hit of 1978, but Newton-John almost didn’t take the role, concerned that she was too old – she was 29 at the time of filming – to play a high school senior student. The soundtrack album spent an impressive 12 consecutive weeks at number one in the US, with Newton-John’s performance also being nominated for a Golden Globe. She even performed Hopelessly Devoted To You at the 1979 Oscars.

It’s fair to say, then, that Newton-John was part of a film and soundtrack that went on to become an integral part in so many people’s lives and younger years.

So perhaps it’s fair to say that even the most devoted fans of Newton-John may not be aware of just how wide-spanning her career as an actor and singer was. Following the news of her death, many fans have taken to social media to give the star her dues in her other career highlights, not just Grease.

While we have the image of Sandy forever etched in our minds and will remember Newton-John as the female figure that inspired confidence within us all, let’s take a moment to recognise – and perhaps, be surprised by – the other TV shows and films the star was a part of. 

Prior to Grease, Newton-John had forged a professional singing career at just 14 and had started her acting career, one of her first roles being in Funny Things Happen Down Under.

The Australian made-for-TV film was her film debut and is perhaps best known for that as the film itself is quite the random pick. It centres around a barn that’s used by a group of children as a meeting place for singing practice.

When the owner of the property comes into financial difficulty and considers selling the barn, one of the children comes up with an idea to raise money: dye the sheep and sell the coloured wool as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Definitely a world away from the musical romance of Grease, right? 

Since the news of her passing, people have flocked to social media to remind everyone of Newton-John’s appearance on Eurovision.

She represented the UK in the 1974 Eurovision song contest and her song, Long Live Love, finished equal fourth behind Abba’s winning Waterloo.

The song was chosen for Newton-John by the British public out of six possible entries and although Newton-John later admitted that she disliked the song, it’s still a performance that will go down in Eurovision contest history. 

Although Newton-John’s screen appearances were few and far between, one of the other films she became most known for was Xanadu. The 1980 musical fantasy film may have been panned by critics at the time, but nowadays, the film has achieved “cult classic” status among fans of Newton-John’s.

She starred as Kira, a Greek muse incarnated on Earth to inspire people, who helps Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly) and an artist named Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) to meet. She inspires them to build a huge disco roller rink called Xanadu and what ensues is fun, romance and musical numbers from Newton-John herself, as well as Electric Light Orchestra and Cliff Richard. 

This 1983 film was anticipated by fans of Newton-John mainly because it was the on-screen reunion with Travolta. It had romance, crime, comedy but was widely considered a flop at the time of release. However, the film was redeemed by its platinum soundtrack, which yielded three hit singles for Newton-John: Twist Of Fate, Take A Chance (which was a duet with Travolta) and Livin’ In Desperate Times. 

One of the more fun-loving roles that Newton-John was a part of in her later life was appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In 2015, she appeared as a guest judge, and it may have only been a brief stint on the show but Twitter users have enjoyed reminiscing about the fact that she witnessed Katya’s iconic lip syncing. 

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