Stockard Channing: The star from ‘Grease’ is 80 & looks unrecognizable now

After all these years, I don’t think there’s ever been a more charismatic or relatable Rizzo than Stockard Channing.

Channing was a great artist and her singing was just fantastic in Grease – but nowadays, the 80-year-old looks almost unrecognizable.

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The first movie I ever saw Stockard Channing in was called The Big Bus and I thought it was hilarious. But back then, I could never imagine that she would go on and have such a remarkable career.

Today, Stockard Channing is best known for her iconic portrayal of Betty Rizzo in Grease, the 1978 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1971 musical of the same name. Like many before me have pointed out, Channing was by far the best Rizzo out of all that have played the part.

Many probably also recognize Channing from the series The West Wing, where she starred as First Lady Abbey Bartlet. The experienced actress was praised for her instant chemistry with Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Barlet.

“It just worked,” she told 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 Beth Rizzo

But let’s take a deeper look at the highlight of Channing’s career. Because in the name of honesty, she hasn’t appeared in any major motion picture since Grease, even though she has continued to act in films and on Broadway.

The 13-time Emmy Award nominee and seven-time Tony Award nominee appears to be totally fine with being most remembered for her portrayal of bad girl Beth Rizzo, one of the Pink Ladies in Grease.

But is that really the whole truth?

Back in 1973, Channing had little breakthrough starring in the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely to…, a black comedy about revenge.

“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. 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,” she says.

According to Channing, she has only watched Grease only two times.

“I used to be grumpy about Grease because I thought it was a kids’ movie or something. But now it’s sort of amazing. I’m very proud of it,” she told The Times in 2019.

The Manhattan-born actress was 33 years old when she played Rizzo and playing a high school teenager wasn’t so easy for her.

Wikipedia Commons

”I was so much older than she 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 told Broadway World.

Channing, who became interested in acting at an early age, was thrilled when she was offered the role of Rizzo, and her performance made her a top-ranking star in the late 1970s. She earned a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress, but the New York native had difficulty achieving similar success after Grease.

The beloved actress was handed two sitcoms of her own, Stockard Channing in Just Friends (1979) and The Stockard Channing Show (1980), but neither was successful and her career halted.

But with her look of Elizabeth Taylor and air of calm confidence, Channing didn’t give up and she continued to work as an actress, appearing in many highly-praised movies and stage plays. Her latest appearance on the big screen came was in Angry Neighbors, which premiered in 2022.

Stockard Channing in 2011 / Wikipedia Commons / Sean Koo

Be prepared for a surprise: Reality star weighing 600 pounds wed in a daring wedding dress

Tammy Slayton, who is overweight, opted to wear an open dress.

Tammy and Emmy Slayton are the stars of the well-known American reality show “1,000 Pound Sisters,” which follows two teenagers who are dangerously obese.

They are currently 34 and 35 years old, respectively. Up until a few years ago, they consented to broadcast their daily lives to millions of viewers in the hopes of becoming in shape and beginning to live life to the fullest.

For three seasons, the sisters struggled with their addictions and with themselves. Amy, who is losing weight and requesting surgery, was the sibling who experienced the most success.

Amy and Tammy were both at 185 and 275 kg at the time of shooting (of which Amy had already lost roughly 50 kg). In contrast to her sibling, she has gained weight and is currently close to three hundred pounds. Tammy’s health naturally soon deteriorated, and she was sent to an Ohio medical rehabilitation facility that specialized in treating obese individuals.

She is currently receiving care at the clinic for her weight loss and the pulmonary issues that her fat-related obesity caused. Tammy still feels very strongly about her life’s mission. She routinely posts funny videos to her social media accounts, updates her fans on her health, and reassures her followers that everything is well.

At the treatment center is where Tammy first met her fiancé, Caleb Willingham. That encounter marked the beginning of the only relationship she has ever experienced that wasn’t based on internet dating. The man proposed to her there after they had already staged a wedding there, where they had first met.

Many of the concerns they share may be discussed with one another. They help each other a lot now, they really do. The pals of the couple say it’s amazing.

The intimate wedding was attended by just the bride’s closest relatives and friends. This included Amy, the sister of the bride, who had lost weight and as a result was already married and had a kid.

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