Entertainment Movies Grease Cast: Where Are They Now? What have our favorite Rydell High graduates been doing since driving off into the sunset? Catch up on where the cast of Grease is now By Diana Pearl Diana Pearl Diana Pearl is a former writer and reporter at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2018. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on May 8, 2024 06:04PM EDT Close Photo: Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty Images Have you heard? Grease is still the word. Though several of the film's stars — Olivia Newton-John, Susan Buckner and Jeff Conaway — have died, the movie's larger-than-life legacy remains, with legions of fans rewatching the film and sharing the classic clips on social media. On any given Halloween, you're bound to see Sandy and Danny costumes wherever you look, and the music remains some of the most iconic to be on stage or screen. The film's ongoing relevance makes it hard to believe it will celebrate its 46th anniversary this June! See what the cast is up to now, including John Travolta, Stockard Channing, Didi Conn and more. 01 of 11 John Travolta as Danny Zuko Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic;Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Travolta is still the one that Hollywood wants. The 70-year-old father of three, married Kelly Preston in 1991 and has acted in tons of movies, including Pulp Fiction (1994), Face/Off (1997), Wild Hogs (2007), Hairspray (2007), Bolt (2008), Savages (2012), Gotti (2018), The Fanatic (2019) and Paradise City (2022). Travolta also notably starred in the critically acclaimed 2016 miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, for which he earned an Emmy nomination for playing Robert Shapiro, lead defense attorney in the controversial O.J. Simpson murder trial. He won an Emmy as part of the anthology series' producing team. These days, Travolta often posts to social media videos of time spent with daughter Ella Bleu, 24, and son Benjamin, 13. In 2009, he and Preston tragically lost their oldest son Jett after he had a seizure and hit his head on a bathtub. Preston died of breast cancer in July 2020, two years after being diagnosed. 02 of 11 Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection;David Becker/Getty Newton-John died after a 30-year journey with breast cancer at age 73 in 2022, but her legacy will live on forever. She's best remembered for her Grammy-winning music career and memorable screen turns including Grease, Xanadu and Glee. She released a number of successful studio albums, the best known being Physical in 1981. She also did a great deal of advocacy work and was made a UN ambassador on the environment in 1990. Newton-John is survived by her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, and husband John Easterling. 03 of 11 Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo Mireya Acierto/Getty;Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Following her Grease days, Channing really hit her stride in the world of TV, playing the Emmy-winning role of First Lady Abbey Bartlet on The West Wing for seven years. She's also a frequent player on the Broadway stage, appearing in shows like It's Only a Play and Other Desert Cities. Channing, now 80, guest-starred on The Good Wife over several seasons and continues to appear on various television shows. 04 of 11 Jeff Conaway as Kenickie Mary Evans/PARAMOUNT PICTURES/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection;Michael Tran/Getty Post-Grease, Conaway earned a part on the show Taxi and continued with music as the frontman for the band 3 1/2. In his personal life, he had problems with drug use and often spoke out about his experiences with substance abuse. In 2011, Conaway died at age 60 from pneumonia with sepsis. 05 of 11 Susan Buckner as Patty Simcox Susan Bruckner. Courtesy of Samantha Mansfield Following her breakthrough role in Grease, Buckner went on to star in shows such as The Love Boat and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and also did some film work in movies like Police Academy 6: City Under Siege and Deadly Blessing. However, the actress left the business behind in the '80s to raise her two children. On May 7, 2024, a publicist for her family revealed the actress had died, saying, "Susan died peacefully on May 2 surrounded by loved ones.” A cause of death wasn't revealed. Buckner is survived by Mansfield, her son Adam Josephs, grandchildren Oliver, Riley, Abigail and Ruby, as well as her sister Linda, daughter-in-law Noel Josephs, son-in-law Adam Mansfield and longtime partner Al. She was 72. 06 of 11 Didi Conn as Frenchy Mike Coppola/Getty;Paramount Pictures via AP Conn starred in a number of television shows after her Grease days, including The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Benson and Shining Time Station. In 2008, she was named a national celebrity spokesperson for Autism Speaks (her son, Daniel, has autism). Conn, now 72, has stayed close to the franchise through the years: She reprised her role in 1982's Grease 2 and appeared in Grease Live! in 2016, playing the Frosty Palace's head waitress, Vi. 07 of 11 Michael Tucci as Sonny LaTierri Stefanie Keenan/WireImage;Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Audiences saw a lot of Tucci, now 78, on screen in the late '80s and mid '90s: The actor appeared on shows It's Garry Shandling's Show, Flying Blind and Diagnosis: Murder. He took a long break from acting in the aughts, with no credits from 2002 to 2012, but returned to the scene with a role in the 2013 film The Heat. In 2018, he had a six-episode arc on The Rich & the Ruthless. 08 of 11 Dinah Manoff as Marty Maraschino Albert L. Ortega/WireImage;Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection Manoff, now 68, worked steadily since Grease: She snagged big roles on shows like Soap, Empty Nest and State of Grace and hit the Great White Way with a bang when she won a Tony Award in 1980 for best performance by a featured actress in a play for I Ought to Be in Pictures. 09 of 11 Barry Pearl as Doody Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty;Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Since Grease, Pearl, now 74, has been a staple guest actor on countless TV shows, including Eight Is Enough; Murder, She Wrote and Beverly Hills, 90210. He has also appeared on Broadway in shows such as The Producers. Pearl appeared in Grease Live! and had roles in Straight Outta Oz (2016), The Silent Natural (2019) and The Walls Are Watching (2022). 10 of 11 Jamie Donnelly as Jan The Kobal Collection/Paramount Pictures;Barry King/Getty After Grease, Donnelly took a break from acting for 20 years. But in 1998, she came out of retirement. Now 77, she's since appeared alongside Marisa Tomei and John C. Reilly in the 2010 film Cyrus, the 2015 Johnny Depp film Black Mass and 2020's Souvenirs. Donnelly has worked off-camera, too, as an acting coach. 11 of 11 Kelly Ward as Putzie CBS via Getty Images; Bobby Bank/Getty Images Grease was one of Ward's very first roles, and though the 67-year-old continued in voice work, he's actually spent more time as a screenwriter and animator for Disney and MGM. According to EW.com, he even worked as a musical theater professor at the University of Southern California for a time.