Calling herself “the world’s oldest living teenager,” Stockard Channing, the eldest in the cast of greaser gangs at Rydell High, convincingly played the feisty young Rizzo in the hit musical Grease, that celebrates its 45th anniversary in July 2023.
After a timeless performance that launched her career, there are definitely worse things that the actor, now 79, could do.
Born Susan Stockard, the actor, who recently celebrated her 79th birthday, changed her name after her first marriage in 1963, blending her ex-husband’s name–Walter Channing Jr.–with hers.
Stockard Channing was 34 years old when, as the rebellious Betty Rizzo, she wore the pink satin jacket as the leader of the greaser girl gang, the Pink Ladies, in the 1978 film Grease.
The New York-born Channing was 11 years older than John Travolta, who was 23 when he played the leather-wearing greaser Danny Zucko, and Olivia Newton-John, who died at 73, was 29 years old when she starred as the shy Aussie Sandy.
“I am the world’s oldest living teenager!” Channing said about her role as Rizzo.
“I was so much older than (Rizzo) was in life, but I could not think about that, so I sort of threw myself back to what I felt when I was her age over, even younger. The complexity of adolescents and hormones and sexuality and all of that other stuff. Seeing that I really was older I think that added to the isolation of Rizzo,” Channing explained to Broadway World.
But despite Grease’s legacy, the Harvard graduate says she’s only seen the film twice.
“I saw it when it first opened and then there was a 20th anniversary and I went with a friend of mine and her little girl,” she recalled. “Her little girl at the time was about four and she was sitting there between us. She looked at the screen and she looked at me and couldn’t understand how I could be in two places at once.”
The 13-time Emmy Award nominee and seven-time Tony Award nominee has also starred in several other films, TV shows and theatre productions.
She started her TV career with a recurring role on Sesame Street and then, when she turned 29, she starred in The Girl Most Likely to…, a black comedy about revenge, that was written by Joan Rivers.
“A lot of people talk about the G-word [Grease] and all of that, but back in the day, I had as many people stop me in the street about that one movie,” Channing said. “Because it’s about revenge, and people would sit in their living rooms and go, ‘Oh, I’m the only person watching this’ or ‘this person understands me.’ I’m not kidding. It was a million years ago, and then it was the highest-rated movie of the week. Revenge always works.”
It was in 1977 she got the call for Grease, where her relatable and charismatic portrayal of Rizzo launched her career, making her (one of) the most memorable Rizzos to date.
After a few supporting roles in film, she gained some major traction on Broadway and won her first Tony Award for a Day in the Death of Joe Egg.
In 1993, the stage and screen actor reprised her theatre in Six Degrees of Separation, in the film adaptation of the same name. Starring alongside Will Smith, Donald Sutherland and Ian McKellen, the star’s stellar performance earned her nods from the Academy and Golden Globes. She then had starring roles in Up Close and Personal (1997), First Wives Club (1999), and The Business of Strangers (2001).
Having carved a path in both film and theater, all Channing had left was television, a goal she conquered with her role in West Wing, as the First Lady to Martin Sheen’s President.
Referring to the on-screen chemistry she shared with Sheen, Channing said, “It just worked. We had this chemistry from the beginning. I don’t know what it was, but we had it and it didn’t go away. It was a happy accident.”
Channing’s Emmy-winning appearances on West Wing (1999 to 2006) were limited in the last season accommodate her schedule on the short-lived TV series Out of Practice with Henry Winkler.
Since then, the Practical Magic star appeared in many theater productions like Pal Joey and Other Desert Cities and TV shows, like The Matthew Shepard Story.
Long ago swapping her short dark brown hair for longer locks, Channing, who’s always had a natural pout, has (not surprisingly) changed dramatically in the last almost five decades.
Recently, Channing appeared at the opening night of the play Medea in London’s West End, with only a glimpse of the rosy-cheeked Rizzo left behind.
Though we haven’t seen much of the beloved actor on screens, Channing is still making headlines, mostly about her changing appearance.
In 2017, fans saw her after a long time when she was discussing her career with Britain’s talk show host Lorraine, leaving fans aghast over her transformation. And it’s not just the years that changed her look.
“What the hell has happened to her face?????? Why why why do people think this looks good!!!!!!” wrote on fan, while another said, “So sad to see such a beautiful woman succumb to such drastic surgery.”
Another jumped in to defend the beloved actor: “wow i cant believe how rude and disgraceful human beings are, all these disgusting comments about this legends face, you people just suck.”
The Daily Mail shared the expertise of a surgeon, who suggests her look is the “result of non-surgical interventions to her face.”
As for her personal life, Channing has been married and divorced four times, and has no children. Most recently she was in a long-term relationship with cinematographer Daniel Gillham, whom she met on the set of 1988’s A Time of Destiny. The couple was together from 1990 until his death in 2014. As of 2019, Channing has been living in London.
I think we can all agree that no matter what Stockard Channing looks like today, that she is still “peachy keen, jellybean!”
Channing is legendary! She gave an extraordinary life to Rizzo and a Grease without her, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, is a Grease we don’t want!
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