As the world mourns the death of Olivia Newton-John, it's become apparent she almost turned down her signature role.
The 73-year-old died earlier this week after a 30 year battle with breast cancer and tributes poured in. But her life could have been so different if she'd stuck with her thoughts not to play the iconic role of Sandy in the musical rom-com.
Writing in her autobiography titled Don't Stop Believin', the Australian actress revealed the moment she was offered the role - and the reasons she almost turned it down. Calling it "fate" she described how she went to a dinner party at Helen Reddy's house in Los Angeles in 1976.
It was there where she met producer Alan Carr who believed she would make the perfect addition to the movie's line-up. In her book, she wrote: "I was 28 and John 23. I couldn’t play a high school student at 28.
"“I’m too old for Sandy,” I told Alan. “And I can’t do an American accent.” He would change the script to make Sandy an Australian transfer student. Wow, they were really trying to make this work for me. But I was still hesitant."
She continued to explain how she wanted to see the play before making her final decision and headed to London to watch it as Richard Gere took the role on stage of Danny Zuko.
Despite realising how much fun it would be to be cast as Sandy, she doubted whether she would be a success and admitted she had originally decided to pass on the opportunity.
However, she continued: "Then Danny Zuko himself walked up my front steps..." And it was that moment she said that changed everything. Olivia explained how John Travolta had told producers "there was only one human being on this planet I could see as Sandy".
She gushed: "How could you say no to John Travolta?" and added that a week later she had been at Paramount when the pair met again. It was there she gave in and agreed to the part.
"Those four words changed my life," she wrote. Olivia continued to explain in depth how well the pair got on and revealed how close they came to dating at one stage.
She admitted the attraction between the pair was there but they never became an item as at the time they were both in a relationship and loyal to their respective partners.
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