Stockard Channing: The famous ‘Grease’ actress is 79 years old and looks unrecognizable

Lilit

We can surely say that there has never been a more captivating or relatable Rizzo than Stockard Channing.

Channing was an amazing performer, and her singing in Grease was outstanding, but the 79-year-old is now practically unrecognizable.

The Big Bus was the first film I watched Stockard Channing in, and I thought it was funny. But I had no idea she would go on to have such a tremendous career at the time.

Stockard Channing is most remembered today for her famous role as Betty Rizzo in Grease, a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1971 musical of the same name. As many others have said, Channing was by far the finest Rizzo of those who performed the role.

Many people may remember Channing from the television show The West Wing, where she played First Lady Abbey Bartlet. The seasoned actor was lauded for her on-screen chemistry with Martin Sheen, who was in the role of President Josiah Barlet.

“It just worked,” she said in 2020 to Entertainment Weekly.

“We had this chemistry from the start.” I’m not sure what it was, but we had it, and it wouldn’t go. It was a fortunate coincidence.”

But first, let’s take a closer look at Channing’s career high point. Because, in the interest of candor, she hasn’t acted in a big movie picture since Grease while continuing to act in films and on Broadway.

The 13-time Emmy Award nominee and seven-time Tony Award candidate seemed to be quite content with being known for her role as bad girl Beth Rizzo, one of Grease’s Pink Ladies.

But is that the whole truth?

Channing had a little hit in 1973, when she starred in the dark comedy The Girl Most Likely to…

“A lot of people talk about the G-word [Grease] and all of that, but I had just as many people stop me in the street about that one movie back in the day.” Because it’s about vengeance, and people would sit in their living rooms and think to themselves, ‘Oh, I’m the only one watching this,’ or “This guy knows me.’ I’m not joking. It was a million years ago, and it was the highest-rated film of the week at the time. “Vengeance is always effective,” she adds.

According to Channing, she has only seen Grease twice.

Grease used to irritate me because I thought it was a children’s movie or something. But it’s now kind of fantastic. “I’m extremely proud of it,” she told The New York Times in 2019.

The Manhattan-born actress was 33 years old when she played Rizzo, and she struggled to mimic a high school adolescent.

“I was much older than she was in life, but I couldn’t think about it, so I threw myself back to how I felt when I was her age or even younger.” The complexities of adolescence, hormones, sexuality, and everything else “Because I was older, I think it added to Rizzo’s isolation,” Channing told Broadway World.

Channing, who had always wanted to be an actress, was overjoyed when she was given the part of Rizzo, and her performance catapulted her to stardom in the late 1970s. She won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress, but the New York native struggled to replicate her success following Grease.

Stockard Channing in Just Friends (1979) and The Stockard Channing Show (1980) were her own sitcoms, but neither was a hit, and her career came to an end.

Channing, with her Elizabeth Taylor beauty and aura of calm assurance, didn’t give up and continued to work as an actor, starring in several critically acclaimed films and stage plays. Her most recent film performance was in Angry Neighbors, which was released in 2022.

Channing has been active in theatrical production in London, where she presently lives, in recent years. She used to reside in Maine with her 25-year-old boyfriend, but she relocated to England in 2019.

“Living on my own here during the pandemic, I was sort of taking the ride with the rest of the country,” she said to The New York Times.

Channing has maintained a modest profile personally. The Grease actress, who has always been “reckless” and restless, has no children.

She had four marriages and four divorces. Today, she finds solace in her dog, who has been her steady friend for many years.

Plastic surgery on Stockard Channing
Channing has earned notice in recent years for her shifting appearance. Lorraine, a British morning television program, first interviewed her in 2017.

Channing was on hand to discuss her career and roles, but many viewers were more interested in what had happened to the Grease star’s looks. She had changed so drastically that many people were shocked; there were articles on Twitter and in the tabloids.

‘Oh my gosh, Rizzo, what have you done to herself?’ ‘Shocked at how Stockard Channing looked on Lorraine,’ one viewer said, while another said, ‘What are they doing messing with plastic surgeons?’

A surgeon suggested in the Daily Mail that Channing must have taken botox. But, luckily, others stepped out to defend Channing. I mean, we all age, and it’s not unusual for a 79-year-old woman’s look to alter over time.

Channing retains his “Rizzo” charm—cool and seductive! In an interview with Out magazine in 2011, the actress said that she tries “everything I f—ing can” to keep fit.

“When you reach a certain age, you start playing a lot of mothers.” Maybe if I had kids, I’d feel differently, but I really dislike stumbling into all these guys’ recollections of their moms, which, believe me, aren’t that hot.” She chuckled and continued:

“Or perhaps they watched a lot of The Golden Girls?” And I could be thankful for someone who grew up watching The Golden Girls. But they don’t hang out with ladies this age anymore, and I’d like to believe the world has evolved since then.”

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