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Stockard Channing was an inimitable force as Betty Rizzo in 1978’s Grease, though the movie was never meant to become a huge phenomenon.
“I gave [Grease] my all, and I’m proud of the performance and proud of the character. But at the time, it was not taken at all seriously,” Channing, 80, told The Times of London in a profile published on Thursday, January 23. “The money that it was making was resented. I was resented. It’s a kid’s movie — it was really pissed on.”
Channing, who was 33 at the time, portrayed Rizzo, the 17-year-old leader of the Pink Ladies clique, and performed the show-stopping “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” ballad. (The high school film also starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as star-crossed lovers Danny and Sandy.)
“The depth of the impact is bizarre,” Channing recalled of Grease. “I’ve gone through a lot of changes about that experience. I needed the gig enormously; things were not going well after a big, big lesson in show business.”
Grease is the word! When Grease hit theaters in June 1978, it was an instant hit — and its cast members became instant stars. Based on the 1971 musical of the same name, the film follows students at Rydell High School after they return from summer break in 1958. As memorably recapped in the song […]
Despite the popularity of the movie-musical, Channing still struggled to book a steady stream of roles and, instead, focused her career on the stage.
“But then I realized with time, how it’s affected generations, especially of women and even some men,” she claimed. “I’m not going to name the actor, but we were in a movie together and we were doing a press tour. We passed each other from one press table to another, and he said, ‘You were my wet dream when I was 12.’ Oh, thank you so much. A little too much information.”
Channing has also since relocated from the United States to England, where she moved in 2019.
“I enjoyed living here, the friendships I had, I kept, I was spending months at a time here. And then I was here during COVID, and that sort of cemented everything,” she recalled. “I realized that I was happier here. Also at my age, people get sick, and people die and people move away. And that started to happen. Now I live here, and I’m really grateful that I was able to pull it off.”
Channing further gushed that “life is very good” for her, denying that she’d get into another long-term relationship in the future. (Channing, who has been married four times, was last in a relationship with Daniel Gillham until his death in 2014.)
“No, I think that would be such a pain in the ass,” Channing quipped. “I’m consolidating, thank you very much. I’m very happy with the friends I have. No. Life is good.”
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