I think Stockard Channing is the most captivating and relatable Rizzo ever.
Channing was a terrific artist and sang beautifully in Grease, but the 80-year-old looks nearly unrecognizable today.
The Big Bus was my first Stockard Channing film, and it was hilarious. However, I never imagined her career would be that successful.
Stockard Channing is best remembered for playing Betty Rizzo in Grease, a 1978 American musical romantic comedy based on the 1971 musical. As others have noted, Channing was the best Rizzo.
Many know Channing from The West Wing, where she played First Lady Abbey Bartlet. The veteran actress was acclaimed for her quick connection with President Josiah Barlet, played by Martin Sheen.
2020: “It just worked,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
We had chemistry from the start. I don’t know what it was, but it persisted. A lucky accident.”
Playing Beth Rizzo
Let’s examine Channing’s career highlight. To be honest, she hasn’t acted in a major film since Grease, despite acting in films and on Broadway.
The 13-time Emmy and seven-time Tony nominee is content with being recognized for playing Grease’s bad girl Beth Rizzo.
Is it all true?
Channing made a little breakthrough in 1973 with the black comedy The Girl Most Likely to…
People speak about the G-word [Grease] and all that, but back then, I had as many people stop me in the street about that movie. Because it’s about revenge, people would sit in their living rooms and say, ‘Oh, I’m the only one watching this’ or ‘this person knows me.’ Not kidding. A million years ago, it was the week’s highest-rated film. Revenge always works, she argues.
Channing claims to have seen Grease twice.
I used to dislike Grease because I believed it was a kiddie movie. It’s sort of wonderful now. It makes me proud,” she told The Times in 2019.
At 33, the Manhattan-born actress portrayed Rizzo, a high school student that was difficult to play.
I was much older than she was, but I couldn’t think about it, so I reverted to how I felt when I was her age or younger. The complexities of teens, hormones, sexuality, and more. Since I was older, I suppose Rizzo felt more isolated, Channing told Broadway World.
Channing, who began acting at a young age, was excited to play Rizzo, and her performance made her a late 1970s superstar. She won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress, but the New Yorker struggled after Grease.
The beloved actress had two sitcoms, Stockard Channing in Just Friends (1979) and The Stockard Channing Show (1980), which failed and ended her career.
Channing persevered as an actress, appearing in several critically acclaimed films and plays with her Elizabeth Taylor beauty and serene assurance. She last appeared in 2022’s Angry Neighbors.
Moving to London
Channing has produced theater in London, where she lives, in recent years. In 2019, she and her 25-year-old partner came to England from Maine.
“Living on my own here during the pandemic, I was sort of taking the ride with the rest of the country,” she told The Times.
Channing has kept a modest profile personally. The Grease actress, who has always been restless and irresponsible, has no children.
Her marriages and divorces total four. Her dog, her longtime buddy, comforts her today.
Stockard Channing plastic surgery
Channing’s style has also garnered recognition recently. Lorraine, a British breakfast show, interviewed her in 2017.
Channing spoke about her career and roles, but many viewers were more interested in her appearance after Grease. Her transformation startled many, prompting Twitter rumors and tabloid pieces.
‘Oh my god what has Rizzo done to herself?’ Another viewer was shocked by Stockard Channing’s appearance on Lorraine. They tamper with plastic surgeons—why?
#StockardChanning on Grease's enduring popularity: 'I am the world's oldest living teenager!' pic.twitter.com/oiDW6eZqQS
— Lorraine (@lorraine) October 17, 2017
A surgeon told the Daily Mail that Channing utilized botox. Thank goodness others defended Channing. We all age, thus an 80-year-old woman’s appearance changes.
I still think Channing is “Rizzo”—cool and gorgeous! The actress told Out magazine in 2011 that she did “everything I f—ing can” to stay fit.
You play a lot of mothers after a certain age. Maybe if I had kids I’d feel differently, but I detest hearing all these guys’ bad recollections of their mothers,” she chuckled and continued:
Perhaps they watched a lot of The Golden Girls. I may appreciate a Golden Girls kid. They don’t hang out with women this age anymore, and I hope the world has changed.”