Cocaine struggles, Dancing on Ice cameo and the playboy star who went through 6 marriages… where the Grease cast are now
IT’S one the most loved musicals to hit the screen – and Grease is still as popular today as it was more than four decades ago.
And fans have been left heartbroken at the sad news of the death of one of the film’s stars, Susan Buckner.
It was announced yesterday the actress, who played cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 blockbuster, died on May 2, at the age of 72.
Before getting into acting, Susan was a top ten finalist in the Miss America 1972 pageant.
She was 25 when she landed her role on Grease and later starred in the 1981 horror blockbuster Deadly Blessing before moving into directing children’s theatre. Her cause of death is yet to be announced.
Here, we reveal what happened to some of the other Grease stars.
Stockard Channing – Rizzo
After playing tough cookie Rizzo, the leader of The Pink Ladies in Grease, Stockard Channing continued to bag big roles, with her winning Emmy Awards for The West Wing and The Matthew Shepard Story, both in 2002.
Bizarrely, Hollywood star Will Smith admitted in his 2021 memoir that he “fell in love” with the actress, now 80, while they were filming the 1993 movie Six Degrees Of Separation.
At the time, Will, now 55, was married to his first wife Sheree Zampino, 56, who had recently given birth to their son Trey, 31.
But he revealed he found himself “desperately yearning” for the Grease star.
He wrote: “Sheree and I were in the first few months of our marriage with a brand-new baby and for Sheree, I can imagine that this experience was unsettling to say the least.
“She’d married a guy named Will Smith and now she was living with a guy named Paul Poitier [his character in the film]. And to make matters worse, during shooting I fell in love with Stockard Channing.”
The Fresh Prince star added: “After the film wrapped, Sheree and Trey and I moved back to LA. Our marriage was off to a rocky start. I found myself desperately yearning to see and speak to Stockard.”
But the actress has said for her part, “there was nothing that was between me and him. I felt very motherly towards him. I liked him a lot. He was absolutely adorable. Just a sweetheart.”
Jeff Conaway – Kenickie Murdoch
Actor Jeff Conaway had already played Danny’s best friend Kenickie in the stage version of Grease before landing the role in the film.
That year, he also played struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in the sitcom Taxi, leaving the show after the third season reportedly due to his drug abuse.
Writer Sam Simon recalled in 2008 that during production the actor went missing and was found in his dressing room too high on drugs to perform.
Also in 2008, it was revealed on reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, that the star was addicted to cocaine, alcohol, and painkillers.
Jeff – who was married three times, including to Rona Newton-John, the elder sister of his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John – tragically died from pneumonia, exacerbated by his addictions, in 2011, aged 60.
A 2019 documentary, Autopsy: The Last Hours Of…, claimed the troubled star’s death was linked to an on-set injury where he hurt his back while performing in the Greased Lightning dance scene, starting his path towards drug addiction.
John Travolta – Danny Zuko
After his Oscar-nominated performance in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, playing the lead in Grease cemented John Travolta’s status as a mega star.
But tragically, just months after landing the role of heartthrob Danny, the actor’s girlfriend Diana Hyland died of breast cancer. She was just 41.
The star, who has been married twice, faced further tragedy when his 16-year-old son Jett was found dead in a bathtub at the family’s holiday home in the Bahamas in 2009.
The teenager is believed to have suffered a seizure and hit his head.
Then, his wife Kelly Preston, died from breast cancer in 2020, aged 57. He continues to raise their children Ella Bleu, 23, and Benjamin, 13.
The Pulp Fiction star was raised Catholic but joined the Church of Scientology in 1975. The controversial religion also counts Tom Cruise as a follower.
In 2012, the A-Lister was embroiled in a highly-public law suit, which saw him hit with a sexual battery and harassment suit by two male masseurs, with each seeking $2million.
John’s lawyer Marty Singer said at the time the claims were “absurd and ridiculous” and “totally fabricated.” Both lawsuits were later dismissed.
Olivia Newton-John – Sandy
After landing the female lead of Sandy in the film, Olivia Newton-John became an overnight sensation.
She also topped the charts with the catchy songs from the movie’s soundtrack, including her duet with John Travolta, You’re The One That I Want.
But her career was hit by a string of film and record flops. The star also endured heartbreak in her personal life too, including the breakdown of her 11-year marriage to Matt Lattanzi and being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, two weeks after her father died of the disease.
Then, in June 2005, her on-off partner, cameraman Patrick McDermott mysteriously disappeared on an overnight fishing trip out of California. It was reported he might have faked his own death due to debts.
In 2017, Australian magazine New Idea claimed it had evidence that McDermott was alive after being sent photos matching his description.
That same year, the musical star revealed her cancer had spread to her spine. She died aged 73 surrounded by loved ones at her Ranch in Southern California, in 2022.
Didi Conn – Frenchy
Didi Conn played Sandy’s loveable friend Frenchy in Grease and went on to star in Grease Live!, Law & Order and Stanley.
She also lent her voice to characters in Rugrats, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and The Wild Thornberrys.
After her adopted son Daniel was diagnosed with autism, she joined Autism Speaks as its spokesperson to use her star power to help raise awareness.
Now 72, she has continued to act, most recently in CBS’s Blue Bloods in 2022.
Five years ago, she also competed on ITV’s Dancing On Ice, where she paid tribute to her iconic role as Frenchy.
She also left fans in stitches when she revealed the movie cast were “horny all day long” in a candid This Morning chat in 2019.
Lorenzo Lamas – Tom Chisum
Lorenzo Lamas, whose dad is the famous Argentinian actor Fernando Lamas, was just 18 when he starred as Tom Chisum, playing Sandy’s initial love interest.
In his 2014 autobiography, Renegade At Heart, the 66-year-old actor claimed he had a threesome with identical twins Shane and Sia Barbi, now 61, famous American models better known as the Barbi Twins, after meeting them on the set of the 1978 film.
Lorenzo, who has been married six times and has six children, went on to portray playboy Lance Cumson on the 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest and details in his book his fast-living life of drugs, cars and women.
He recalled how Oscar-winner Jane Wyman who portrayed his grandmother in the show once scolded him for “coming to work high.”
Lorenzo quoted the actress as saying: “This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to take a 15-minute break. You’re going to memorise your lines. And you’re never going to come to work high again.”
Last year, he married sixth wife Kenna Nicole Scott, a former model. Lorenzo now works as a charter pilot for company HeliNY giving tours of New York City after getting picking up flying in the Nineties.
Annette Charles – Cha Cha DiGregorio
Actress Annette Charles played racy dancer Cha Cha DiGregorio in Grease, with her memorably stealing the limelight dancing the hand jive with Danny (John Travolta) at the school dance competition.
She continued to act into the late Eighties before retiring from the industry. She went on to graduate from the NYU School of Social Work in 2001, before becoming a professor of speech communications at the California State University in Northridge.
She died in 2011 aged 63, after recently being diagnosed with cancer – and passed away from complications linked to the disease, just three months after her Grease co-star Jeff Conaway.
Announcing her death, her mum Mary Cardona said: “Annette had recently started having difficulty breathing and when she went to the doctor she learned that she had a cancerous tumour in one of her lungs.”
Eddie Deezen – Eugene
Eddie Deezen played bespectacled geek Eugene in the film before becoming one of the most in demand comedy actors – reportedly turning down some roles because he was too busy.
He starred in Robert Zemeckis’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Steven Spielberg’s epic comedy 1941 as well as reprising his role in Grease 2 in 1982.
The actor has also worked on several animated films, voicing the part of the seagull in The Spongebob Movie and other roles in What’s New, Scooby Doo?
The 67-year-old star was arrested in 2022 after allegedly forcing himself into a nursing home several times. It was reported at the time he was found not competent to stand trial due to a mental disorder and was transferred to the Maryland Department of Health to receive treatment until he is no longer considered a danger to himself or others.