Those in the business call this a unique example of a Hollywood superstar helping young directors and actors take their first, tentative steps in a cut-throat industry - while the uninitiated naïvely describe the works as "flops."ĭuring this time, such was John's commitment to humility, that he turned down two stone-cold hits, in American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman. Rumors circulated that he did Olivia Newton-John straight after filming that scene with her in those tight leather pants.Ī giver: John's giving nature is an open secret in Tinseltown.Ĭoncerned that his unbridled success might make him lose touch with the real world, John spent the 1980s altruistically producing movies for friends. John showed the range of his acting experience, playing a high school senior at the age of 34, and somehow managing to convince the world he was merely a would-be ladies man, when in reality he was already making a reputation for himself as one of Hollywood's most prolific and generous lovers. His other mega-hit of the 1970s, Grease, was of a similarly musical nature.
John's next movie, Saturday Night Fever, propelled him to superstardom, with his thrilling performance as Tony Manero, a working-class heterosexual man who eased his gritty frustration by dancing airily in a white suit. The only thing I could relate to about him was that he had a girlfriend." According to John, "Billy was a real jerk, I didn't like him. John played Billy Nolan, and admitted it was hard to play such a nasty character, and that it was especially difficult to film the scene in which he tipped buckets of pig blood over Sissy Spacek.
John came to the world's attention after starring in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie. ~ Olivia Newton John on John's flirting with her during Grease