I starred in Grease and there’s a famous scene which secretly caused chaos – it led to a diva strop and SIX retakes
It’s 45 years this week since Grease burst onto our screens – but this anniversary won’t feel like a cause for celebration.
It’s the first since Olivia Newton John sadly passed away, aged 73, in August last year, after battling breast cancer for 30 years.
Like most of the cast Didi Conn, 71, remained close friends with Olivia since playing her best pal Frenchy in the movie, and would speak to her “about once a month”.
“I still can’t quite believe she’s gone,” Didi tells us, welling up. “The last time I spoke to Olivia was three weeks before she passed.
“Things were declining, but there’s a wonderful organisation for service dogs in Pasadena, California, and she was so excited because they were giving her one as a gift; this wonderful Poodle named Jack, who she had for a few weeks.
“She had just broken her leg. Her bones were just… But her husband, bless his heart, took such good care of her. Every time I spoke to her she said how blessed she is to have her John [Easterling].
“She was exactly the person that came across onscreen. She was so soulful and bright, just a beautiful, beautiful person inside and out.”
She recalls how Olivia gave her a “beautiful orchid” not long before she died when she heard Didi was feeling sick.
“Three days before she died one of the orchid flowers fell down and my heart stopped,” says Didi.
“I said, ‘I hope that’s not a sign’.”
Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. She went into remission for over 20 years, before it returned in 2013.
Despite being ill, Olivia continued working and even had a residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas from April 2014 to December 2016.
Didi recalls her favourite memory with her pal was when she flew from her hometown of New York to go and watch her.
“I loved every time we were together, we always had such a good time, but especially when she was in Las Vegas,” Didi says.
I still can’t quite believe Olivia’s gone
Didi Conn
“She had me come onstage and the audience went beserko. It was such good fun.
“At that point she couldn’t wear high heels anymore, so she had these flat sneakers on, but they were sparkly, and just watching her sing I Honestly Love You to the audience, and really meaning it, was amazing.”
Grease was a box office smash and remains one of the best musicals of all time.
The 1978 flick American romcom tells the story of teens Sandy Olsson (played by Newton-John) and Danny Zuko (John Travolta, 69).
Didi says many of the cast have remained pals.
“When we sang ‘We’ll Always Be Together’ at the end of the film, it was really true,” she gushes.
“They cast a bunch of goofballs!”
The only Pink Lady Didi hasn’t kept in contact with is Stockard Channing, 79, who played sassy, sarcastic Betty Rizzo.
“It’s funny, because, when we made the film, she was the boss and we were all her little ponies,” says Didi.
“But she’s always kept that distance. She had that in the film, which was right for the character, but it was also who she is, a little bit.
“She’s kind of stayed in her own world.”
Diva strop
Didi hinted the cast used to enjoy winding Stockard up on set.
In the film there’s a scene set in the diner in which Rizzo throws her milkshake over her on-off boyfriend Kenickie when he makes a rude comment about her and the love bite he’s given her, in front of their friends – but it misses and lands on Frenchy instead.
Didi reveals the scene didn’t quite go to plan – thanks to Jeff Conaway, who played Kenickie, giving Stockard an actual love bit -despite her insisting she wanted it to be makeup.
“She was supposed to throw the malt at Kenickie but hit me, so I’d have an excuse to take off my handkerchief and reveal I had pink hair,” recalls Didi.
“But she was so mad at him. Six times we filmed it, and every time, she threw it right in his face!
“Next time you see the movie, you’ll notice I get two little strands of milkshake on me, but I make out like it’s a big deal, and like there’s a lot on my head – but there really isn’t!”
Filming in heatwave with terrible stench
Another very memorable scene from the movie is the dance contest, where the cast go wild, dancing the Hand Jive and doing some rather dirty dancing.
While it looks like it would’ve been fun to film, Frenchy confesses it was anything but.
“That actually took a whole week of shooting,” she says.
“And what was really tough about it was that it was the height of summer – my birthday was that week, and the cake they got for me totally melted.
“We were in a real high school in downtown Los Angeles, with no air conditioning, and we had to keep the windows closed because right next door was a pork plant, so you can imagine the smell!”
We were in a real high school in downtown Los Angeles, with no air conditioning, and we had to keep the windows closed because right next door was a pork plant, so you can imagine the smell!
Didi Conn
But it’s Summer Nights, the opening number of Grease, that Didi remembers most fondly.
She says: “I think that’s where we all bonded, and it was so much fun to sing that song and jump all around the table.
“We’d been rehearsing it for weeks beforehand, so the energy was so high when we performed it for real.”
It’s clear Didi is a huge fan of the film that made her a star, putting its “electricity” down to the real friendships, as well as the fact the choreographer, Patricia Birch, and most of the cast, including John, had starred in the Broadway production.
She says: “So many of the cast had been Greasified hundreds of times, performing the show. You don’t see that usually.
“These guys all knew the characters so well, so all the rest of us had to do was rub against them and get Greasey ourselves!”
New era of Grease
Didi was one of the only original cast members to reprise her role for 1982’s ill-fated sequel Grease 2.
Despite confessing she doesn’t really watch them anymore, she loves how the film is constantly celebrated and attracting new fans, especially now Paramount+ has released Rise of the Pink Ladies.
The Grease prequel is set in 1954, portraying the Rydell High girl gang who became before Frenchy, Rizzo and Sandy – of which the leader is Frenchy’s older sister Jane Facciano.
The TV show even features a young Rizzo and Frenchy – with actress Madison Elizabeth Lagares mimicking Didi’s iconic, high-pitched New York voice.
Many Grease fans labelled the reboot “woke” when it first aired, due to the casting of non-binary actor Ari Notartomaso, who wants to join the male clique, T-Birds – but Didi believes there’s room for both versions.
“It’s great!” she says. “And, yes, there’s lots of juicy, sexual energy in the original, but it’s for the innocent mind.”