‘Grease’ Star, 74, Reveals How She Calmed Olivia Newton-John’s Nerves originally appeared on Parade.
Didi Conn revealed how she soothed co-star Olivia Newton-John’s nerves with improv on set of the beloved musical Grease.
While recalling the first day on set, Conn, 74, told People that Newton-John was feeling anxious about taking on the lead role of Sandy due to her lack of acting experience.
“The first scene in the movie was her scene of walking onto the campus of Rydell with Frenchy, and she was nervous,” Conn, who portrayed Sandy’s friend Frenchy in the film, told the outlet in an interview published on Friday, July 25.
One thing Newton-John was nervous about was that she was older than her love interest in the movie, John Travolta, who starred as Danny Zuko.
However, Conn explained that Newton-John had nothing to worry about. “They did a screen test, and if you ever see that, she’s so beautiful, she just looked exactly ‘teenager,'” she said.
“So we were waiting and waiting and they’re fixing the lights and [it] was a long shot, and they had to get it all right,” Conn recalled, sharing that she had an idea to start improvising to make Newton-John feel more comfortable.
“I said, ‘Oh, so you are from Australia. Tell me all about what school’s like in Australia,'” she said. “And she looked at me like, ‘Is this in the script?’ And I said, ‘Well, tell me, did you have a boyfriend in school?’”
Conn continued that Newton-John was quick to catch on “because that’s who she is.”
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“And she told me that, ‘Oh my God, the boys had to go in one side and the girls in another,’ and she had to wear gloves, and she just went on and on,” Conn said.
It turns out the improvising was the right trick because Newton-John was ready to go by the time director Randal Kleiser called action.
“There we were so many, many, many times, she said how grateful she was that we had so much fun and that I just pulled her right into it,” Conn shared before noting that she “loved improvising.”
‘Grease’ Star, 74, Reveals How She Calmed Olivia Newton-John’s Nerves first appeared on Parade on Jul 25, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
