After all these years, I don’t think there’s ever been a Rizzo as charming or relatable as Stockard Channing.
Channing was a talented actress, and her singing in *Grease* was amazing. But now, at 80 years old, she looks almost unrecognizable.
The first movie I ever saw Stockard Channing in was called *The Big Bus*, and I thought it was really funny. Back then, I never could have guessed that she would go on to have such an amazing career.
Today, Stockard Channing is best known for playing Betty Rizzo in *Grease*. *Grease* is a 1978 musical romantic comedy film based on a musical from 1971 with the same name. Many people, including me, think Channing was the best Rizzo out of everyone who has ever played the role.
A lot of people also know Channing from the TV show *The West Wing*, where she played First Lady Abbey Bartlet. Her acting was praised, especially her natural chemistry with Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet.
“It just worked,” she said in an interview with *Entertainment Weekly* in 2020.
“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.”
Starring as Betty Rizzo
Let’s take a closer look at the highlight of Stockard Channing’s career. To be honest, she hasn’t been in any major movies since Grease, even though she has kept acting in films and on Broadway.
Channing, who has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and seven Tony Awards, seems completely okay with being best known for playing the “bad girl” Betty Rizzo, one of the Pink Ladies in Grease.
But is that really all there is to her story?
Back in 1973, Channing had a small breakthrough when she starred in the TV movie The Girl Most Likely to…. It was a dark comedy about revenge.
“A lot of people talk about the G-word [Grease] and all of that, but back in the day, I had just as many people stop me on the street because of that one movie,” she said. “Because it’s about revenge, and people would sit in their living rooms and think, ‘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.”
Channing says she has only watched Grease twice.
“I used to be grumpy about Grease because I thought it was a kids’ movie or something. But now it’s kind of amazing. I’m very proud of it,” she told The Times in 2019.
The actress, who was born in Manhattan, was 33 years old when she played Rizzo, and playing a high school teenager wasn’t easy for her.
“I was much older than Rizzo in real life, but I couldn’t think about that. I had to imagine what I felt like when I was her age, or even younger. I thought about the complexity of being a teenager, with all the hormones, feelings, and issues around sexuality. Being older helped me show Rizzo’s sense of isolation,” Channing told Broadway World.
Channing, who got interested in acting at a young age, was very excited when she was offered the role of Rizzo. Her performance made her a big star in the late 1970s. She even won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress. However, the actress from New York found it hard to get the same kind of success after Grease.
Channing was given two of her own sitcoms, Stockard Channing in Just Friends (1979) and The Stockard Channing Show (1980), but neither of them did well, and her career slowed down.
But Channing, with her Elizabeth Taylor-like looks and calm confidence, didn’t give up. She kept acting in many highly-praised movies and stage plays. Her most recent big-screen appearance was in the movie Angry Neighbors, which premiered in 2022.
Moving to London
In recent years, Stockard Channing has been involved in theater productions in London, where she now lives. She used to live in Maine with her partner of 25 years, but she moved to England in 2019.
“Living on my own here during the pandemic, I was sort of going through the same experience as everyone else in the country,” she told The Times.
Keeping a Low Profile
On a personal level, Stockard Channing has kept a low profile. The Grease star, who has always been known for being “reckless” and restless, has no children.
She has been married and divorced four times. Nowadays, she finds comfort in her dog, who has been her constant companion for many years.
Stockard Channing and Plastic Surgery
In recent years, Channing has also gotten attention for her changing appearance. It all started in 2017 when she was interviewed on Lorraine, a British breakfast TV show.
Here’s the article rewritten in simple language:
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### Reactions to Channing’s Appearance
Channing was on the show to talk about her career and the roles she’s played, but many viewers were more focused on how different the *Grease* star looked. Many people were surprised by how much she had changed, leading to lots of talk on Twitter and articles in the tabloids.
“Oh my god, what has Rizzo done to herself?” one viewer wrote, while another said, “Shocked at how Stockard Channing looked on *Lorraine*. Why do they mess with plastic surgeons?”
In an article from the *Daily Mail*, a surgeon suggested that Channing might have used botox. However, others defended Channing. After all, we all get older, and it’s normal for an 80-year-old woman’s appearance to change over time.
To me, Channing still has that “Rizzo” personality – cool and confident! In an interview with *Out* magazine in 2011, she said she does “everything I f—ing can” to stay in shape.
“You get to a certain age, and you start playing a lot of mothers. Maybe if I had children, I’d feel differently, but I really hate being compared to these guys’ memories of their mothers, which, trust me, aren’t so great,” she laughed and added:
“Or maybe they watched a lot of *The Golden Girls*, you know? And while I’m thankful for *The Golden Girls*, they don’t spend time with women my age now, and I’d like to think the world has changed since then.”
Emotional reaction of the pilot when he realized why birds were flying next to the plane
In the midst of a routine flight, Jason, a seasoned pilot, encountered a startling disruption that shook his world. A sudden barrage of loud bangs on the plane’s windows left him bewildered, grappling with the unknown source of this disturbance.
Casting his gaze across the horizon, Jason was met with a chilling sight, an enormous flock of birds not merely trailing the aircraft but actively assaulting it.
Frantically attempting to fend off the avian onslaught without jeopardizing the engine, Jason found himself in a precarious situation. Despite his efforts, the birds grew more aggressive, compelling Jason to reassure the uneasy passengers that he had control over the situation.
As the feathered assailants drew nearer, coordinating their attacks on the jet, Jason sought assistance from flight control. To exacerbate the predicament, the control tower remained eerily silent, leaving Jason struggling to maintain command of the aircraft as the avian horde extended beyond the city limits.
The situation escalated when attempting to return to the airport resulted in an even fiercer onslaught by the birds, causing the jet’s engine to fail and initiating a rapid descent.
In a daring move born of desperation, Jason opted for a water landing, a maneuver he had never executed before. Despite the turbulent landing, everyone aboard survived the ordeal.
Upon disembarkation, chaos ensued among the passengers. Despite the staff’s attempts to maintain order, some insisted on disembarking first, inviting further bird attacks. While rescue operations commenced, tugboats were dispatched to extract the plane from the water.
The persistent swarm of birds thwarted the rescue team’s attempts to approach, prompting Jason to propose creating disruptive noises to momentarily disorient the birds and facilitate towing the jet ashore.
A subsequent investigation, prompted by the arrival of law enforcement, uncovered a shocking revelation: a suspected passenger was implicated in the illegal trade of exotic birds. These trafficked birds had disrupted the flock, causing mayhem in the skies.
Justice prevailed when the implicated passenger was apprehended, bringing a sense of relief to Jason and the entire crew. Overwhelmed with gratitude that no lives were lost, Jason shed tears of relief.
His quick thinking not only averted tragedy but also exposed and halted a sinister trade that imperiled both human safety and the unwitting creatures caught up in this airborne spectacle.
This harrowing experience served as a stark reminder of the unpredictable challenges confronting aviation professionals. It underscored the vital role of pilots like Jason, who, in the face of unprecedented adversity, remained resolute in ensuring the safety of all on board.
The remarkable tale of courage and resilience against the odds stands as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and our capacity to surmount even the most extraordinary challenges.
Thanks to Jason’s swift actions, the illicit enterprise responsible for the aberrant bird behavior was dismantled, bringing an end to a dark chapter in aviation history.
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