It’s been nearly 50 years since the Pink Ladies burst on to the scene in Grease.
The ultimate group of bad girls, Rizzo, Frenchy, Jan and Marty, ‘acted cool, looked cool, and were cool’, and helped wholesome Sandy Olsson unleash her wild side to snare Danny Zuko.
Now Grease fans have been treated to some nostalgia with the release of Didi Conn’s new Laura Geller Beauty campaign, which sees her riff off her Grease storyline in which her character Frenchy was a ‘beauty school dropout’.
The advert sees Didi, 74, clad in a pale pink dress as she plugs their products by musing: ‘You might remember when I famously dropped out of beauty school.
‘I thought my life and my hair was ruined and I’d have to spend eternity making expensive salon appointments.’
Fans were left in awe by Didi’s youthful looks and saying her ‘adorable’ personality, hadn’t seemed to have changed since her Grease days.
So what became of the other Pink Ladies?
Rizzo – Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing, 82, grew up in New York City. She started her career off as a theatre actress, before turning to TV.
Yet it was her work in Grease as Betty Rizzo that proved to be her breakout moment.
She then went on to star in her own CBS sitcom called The Stockard Channing Show then Without a Trace in 1983, drama The Men’s Club, the war film A Time of Destiny, and CBS miniseries Echoes in the Darkness (which earned her an Emmy nomination) throughout the Eighties.
Stockard then returned to her roots – appearing in Broadway plays They’re Playing Our Song, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, The House of Blue Leaves, and Six Degrees of Separation.
In 1993, the actress starred in the movie adaptation of Six Degrees of Separation, which garnered her an Oscar for Best Actress and a Golden Globes nomination.
Her other acting credits include the romantic drama Up Close & Personal, Practical Magic, Smoke, USA’s An Unexpected Family, The West Wing, CBS sitcom Out of Practice, the docudrama The Matthew Shepard Story, The Business of Strangers, and The Good Wife.
Stockard Channing played Betty Rizzo in Grease. She is seen in the 1978 movie (left) and 2023
She entered into a relationship with cinematographer Danie Gillham in 1990, whom she was with until he passed away in 2014 (pictured together in 1999)
Stockard has been married and divorced four times over her decades-long career. She wed her first husband, a wood sculpture named Walter Channing Jr, in 1963, and they split in 1967.
She then tied the knot with a professor named Paul Schmidt in 1970, but they divorced after six years together.
Her third marriage was to writer and producer David Deblin, whom she was with from 1976 to 1980.
Stockard then wed businessman David Rawle in 1980. They went their separate ways eight years later.
She then entered into a relationship with cinematographer Danie Gillham in 1990, whom she was with until he passed away in 2014.
Stockard never had any children, and she now lives in London.
She will next be seen on screens this year in Practical Magic 2, in which she reprises her role as Aunt Frances Owens.
Jan – Jamie Donnelly
Jamie Donnelly played Jan in Grease. She is seen in the 1978 movie (left) and in 2002
Jamie Donnelly, 79, originally from Teaneck, New Jersey, made her acting debut in 1974 in the sci-fi series The Six Million Dollar Man.
She made a series of other guest appearances in shows such as Barnaby Jones and Police Woman, before she was cast as Jan in Grease.
Jamie played Jan in the theatre version of Grease first, making her the only person to reprise her stage character in the movie.
Afterwards she continued to act, starring in the family adventure flick Slappy and the Stinkers, the 1998 rom com Can’t Hardly Wait, the TV show Family Affair, Cyrus, and crime drama Black Mass.
Her theatre career also flourished, with her acting in The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Broadway, as well as Tarzan.
She hasn’t acted since 2017, and she now works as an acting coach.
Jamie married a writer named Stephen Foreman and together they share two children, named Sevi and Madden.
She still holds Grease close to her heart, and earlier this month she appeared as a special guest at a screening of the film at the Tee Pee Drive-In in Oklahoma.
Marty – Dinah Manoff
Dinah Manoff played Marty Maraschino in Grease. She is seen in the movie (left) and in 2002
It seemed as though Dinah Manoff, 70, who hails from New York City, was destined to be a star from a young age – since her parents were both in the industry.
Her mother Lee Grant was an actress, director and writer and her father Arnold Manoff was a screenwriter.
She landed her first role in 1975, in the animated movie Everybody Rides the Carousel and starred as starred as Elaine Dallas in ABC’s Soap before earning her part as Marty Maraschino in Grease.
Following the success of Grease, Dinah went on to star in the Oscar-winning movie Ordinary People, the horror classic Child’s Play, NBC sitcom Empty Nest, Welcome Home, Roxy Charmichael (alongside Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels), The Amati Girls, and Fox series State of Grace.
She also dabbled in theatre, starring in numerous Broadway plays over the years including I Ought to be in Pictures and Leader of the Pack before she retired from acting in 2008.
Dinah married French designer Jean-Marc Joubert in 1980, but they split in 1985, after five years together.
She then wed a realtor named Arthur Mortell in 1997. They currently reside, along with their two sons, Desi, and Oliver, in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
The couple faced tragedy in 2017, when their third son, Dashiell, died in a car accident.
Dinah has since focused on writing and released her debut novel, The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold, in 2023.
Frenchy – Didi Conn
After divorcing her first husband, Frank Conn, in 1978, she tied the knot with acclaimed songwriter David Shire (seen in 2010) in 1984, and they welcomed a son named Daniel in 1992
Born as Edith Bernstein in Brooklyn, New York, Didi started acting in her early teen years.
She rose to fame in the early ’70s, landing a few small roles, but arguably her first major part was in the Grease, where she played Frenchy.
And that was just the beginning for her. She was then cast in the popular sitcoms Benson and Shining Time Station, and returned to play Frenchy in Grease 2.
Her other acting credits include the flick Almost Summer, the biographical drama Frida, comedy movie Most Likely to Murder, and The Mimic in 2020.
She also voiced the popular cartoon character Raggedy Ann in the movie Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure.
Didi had a cameo in the 2016 TV special Grease: Live, making her the only original cast member to appear in all three Grease movie adaptations.
In addition to her acting, she is also a talented figure skater and participated in the eleventh season of British show Dancing on Ice in 2019 when she was 67, making her the oldest person ever to compete on the series.
She married Frank Conn in 1975, but they divorced three years later, in 1978.
Didi then tied the knot with acclaimed songwriter David Shire in 1984, and together, they welcomed one child together, a son named Daniel in 1992.
She is also the stepmother to David’s son from a previous marriage, Matthew, who is now a budding screenwriter.
Didi’s son was diagnosed with autism at a young age, and in 2008, she became the official spokesperson for Autism Speaks.
She will next be seen on screens in Weekend Warriors an upcoming sports comedy-drama starring Mark Wahlberg.
Sandy Olsson – Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John played Sandy Olsson in Grease. Seen in the 1978 movie (left) and in 2020
Olivia, who was born in England but spent most of her childhood in Australia, first entered the industry when she was cast in a series of Australian TV shows in her early 20s.
While pursuing acting, she also stepped into the music industry, releasing ten albums before she was cast as Sandy Olsson in Grease.
And after starring in the beloved flick, her career skyrocketed even more. She soon became one of the most well-known singers and actresses on the globe.
She went on to drop a whopping 16 more albums and star in more big movies like Xanadu, the romantic fantasy Two of a Kind, She’s Having a Baby, It’s My Party, and A Few Best Men.
Olivia married her first husband, actor and dancer Matt Lattanzi, in December 1984. A year later, they welcomed her only child, a daughter named Chloe.
The couple was married when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. She underwent a mastectomy and nine months of chemotherapy before going into remission.
The pair amicably divorced in 1995, and she went on to marry her second husband, businessman John Easterling, more than a decade later in 2008.
She overcame cancer a second time in 2013, but the disease returned four years later, and in 2017, she was told the cancer had metastasized and spread to her bones.
She died peacefully at her home in Southern California on August 8, 2022, at the age of 73.
Olivia was surrounded by her family and friends, according to her husband, who announced her passing on her Facebook page.
