Over the weekend, Olivia Newton-John starred in Xanadu on BBC 2. The 1980 film featured Olivia’s lyrical prowess as it showcased her music throughout the film. However, she missed out on singing alongside the king of rock ‘n’ roll himself, Elvis Presley, just three years ago, when the Jailhouse rock star was originally approached to join popular young musician, Grease.
Grace made a number of memorable characters in the 1950s, including Olivia as Sandy, opposite John Travolta’s Danny Zuko.
Before Elvis died on August 16, 1977, he was reevaluating his life and decided he wanted to return to the ranks of Hollywood. While he has starred in countless musical romantic comedies over the years, he has always dreamed of becoming a serious actor. He even was briefly for a role in A Star Is Born opposite Barbra Streisand.
However, when Grease’s producer, Alan Carr, offered King a blockbuster role in Grease, he couldn’t move forward with it.
Alan invited Elvis to play the musical visionary, a teenage angel, in a French Mystic Beauty School leak scene. The moment in question showed Frenchy considering her options after she dropped out of school and lost her place in cosmetology school.
Elvis was set to sail on a cloud and recite the catchy song that somewhat reflected his life and career.
Even the first line of the track reads: “Your future, so unclear now, what is left of your career now?”
However, Elvis eventually rejected her. It is not known exactly why he did not claim the role, but Alain could not wait.
In the end, fellow musician Frankie Avalon played a short role, leaving Elvis without credit in Grease.
READ MORE: Elvis Presley Begs His Girlfriend To Switch Her Career
Claiser said that when the news broke, the cast and crew were accidentally stunned. He said, “It was all over the news, so everyone knew. We did that number, and everyone looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, that’s scary.'”
Despite the fact that Elvis did not perform at Grease and did not meet with Olivia, the two musicians were closely related.
Olivia enjoyed a solid singing career before becoming a household name as an actress.
She was a huge fan of Elvis growing up, even seeing him live a few times.
Olivia opened up about seeing Elvis on stage before his death. She said, “He has magic on stage, and I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s this and that, and I’ve always wanted to pass my own judgment on him, and it was magic as soon as he got on stage—everything he did would be accepted by people.”
She even performed his track, Jailhouse Rock, with Abba and Andy Gibb in 1978.
Olivia passed away earlier this year on August 8, 2022 at the age of 73. She died after suffering breast cancer for the third time.
Xanadu on BBC 2 at 11:15pm.
[ad_2]
