Since strutting onto the big screen in “Saturday Night Fever,” John Travolta has had a career marked by dramatic ups and downs, from comeback king to Internet meme.
Travolta’s latest step back into the spotlight at Sunday’s Academy Awards was uneasy. He’s been widely pilloried for his touching of Idina Menzel’s face while he cooed “You, you my darling, my beautiful, my wickedly talented Idina Menzel.”
Images of Travolta kissing Scarlett Johansson in front of photographers on the red carpet also went viral, turning the star into a social media punch line.
Travolta, 61, has long navigated the ebb and flow of celebrity, relying on his boyish charisma and a few good dance moves for numerous revivals. Here’s a look at his highs and lows:
HIGH: Already known to TV viewers of “Welcome Back Kotter,” Travolta emphatically debuted as a leading man in the 1977 disco sensation “Saturday Night Fever.” He pronounced: “This is dancing, not that Fred Astaire thing. I just move and strut, and THAT’S DANCING!” He followed it up as Danny Zuko in 1978’s “Grease,” forever immortalizing his high voice and pomade-slicked hair.
LOW: The 1980s weren’t nearly as good to Travolta as the ’70s. He worked consistently, but in a string of flops like “Perfect,” in which he played a Rolling Stone reporter, and “Two of a Kind,” which reteamed him with “Grease” co-star Olivia Newton-John. Many of the films he turned down (like “American Gigolo”) were more successful than the films he chose to make.
HIGH: Though the “Look Who’s Talking” comedies restored Travolta’s popularity, his resurrection was undoubtedly due to one man: Quentin Tarantino. The director specifically sought out Travolta, even though Daniel Day-Lewis, fresh off his Oscar win for “My Left Foot,” reportedly wanted the part. Travolta’s performance as Vincent Vega earned him his second Oscar nomination and brought on a rush of work, including the acclaimed Elmore Leonard adaptation “Get Shorty.”
LOW: The “Pulp Fiction” rejuvenation did not last long, though Travolta’s track record (“Michael,” “Face/Off,” “Primary Colors,” “A Civil Action”) was better in the late 1990s than it was in the ’80s. He even had a notable cameo in Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line.” But in 2000, he starred in perhaps the biggest bomb of his career: “Battlefield Earth.” The futuristic science-fiction film was partly based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It was made by independent production company Franchise Pictures (which was later convicted for inflating the budget to “Battlefield Earth” and went bankrupt), with Travolta putting up money of his own. It’s frequently ranked among the worst movies of the decade.
HIGH: Travolta perhaps never recovered after “Battlefield Earth,” but he continued to co-star in big-budget releases that received mediocre reviews and did modest box office: “Swordfish,” “The Punisher,” “The Taking of Pelham 123.” More recently, Travolta has lined up several films: “The Forger” (a crime drama due out in April), “Criminal Activities” (a mob thriller directed by Jackie Earle Haley) and “In a Valley of Violence” (a Western co-starring Ethan Hawke). Most intriguingly, he’s to play O.J. Simpson defense attorney Robert Shapiro in the upcoming FX series “American Crime Story” by Ryan Murphy (“Nip/Tuck,” “American Horror Story”).
LOW: Travolta’s recent years have been marred by tragedy, lawsuits and increased attention to his long-held religion. His son, Jett, died in 2009 of a seizure at age 16. In 2013, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright published “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief,” a thoroughly researched expose of the Church of Scientology, that Travolta joined in the ’70s. The book and Gibney’s upcoming documentary, made with Wright, are critical of Travolta for being a public face to the controversial organization.
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