John Joseph Travolta, a household name in Hollywood, shot to fame as an American actor in the vibrant 1970s. Born on February 18, 1954, his career in showbiz has been awe-inspiring. Starting on TV, he won many fans with his magnetic role in “Welcome Back, Kotter” from 1975 to 1979.
Related: 10 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time, Ranked by US Box Office
But it was in movies that Travolta started to shine. In this blog post, we’ll journey through the highlights of his stellar career, looking at how he rose to stardom and his memorable roles.
10 ‘Bolt’ (2008)
IMDb: 6.8/10 222K | Popularity: 3073 | Metascore: 67
Duration: 1h 36m | Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy | Director: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Cast: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman
Debuted in 2008, ‘Bolt’ shines as a touching computer-animated comedy adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios. The film highlights a standout cast, with John Travolta voicing the lead character Bolt and contributions from Miley Cyrus,...
Related: 10 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time, Ranked by US Box Office
But it was in movies that Travolta started to shine. In this blog post, we’ll journey through the highlights of his stellar career, looking at how he rose to stardom and his memorable roles.
10 ‘Bolt’ (2008)
IMDb: 6.8/10 222K | Popularity: 3073 | Metascore: 67
Duration: 1h 36m | Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy | Director: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Cast: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman
Debuted in 2008, ‘Bolt’ shines as a touching computer-animated comedy adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios. The film highlights a standout cast, with John Travolta voicing the lead character Bolt and contributions from Miley Cyrus,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Israr Ahmed
- buddytv.com
Tom Hanks. Michael J. Fox. George Clooney. Jennifer Aniston. Kristen Wiig. These are just a few of the actors that managed to make the transition from television to movies, but John Travolta made the move before each of them. In 1976, producer Robert Stigwood took a very big gamble on the young TV star, signing Travolta to a million-dollar contract to star in three feature films. The movie version of the hit Broadway musical "Grease" was slated to be the first project to launch Travolta into a full-fledged leading man, but the musical was still so popular, production on the film wasn't allowed to begin until 1978.
While Manhattan was still stuck in the swinging sixties, disco was happening in the other four boroughs. The underground movement inspired an English rock critic named Nik Cohn to write an article in New York magazine focusing on the blue-collar Italian kids in Bay Ridge,...
While Manhattan was still stuck in the swinging sixties, disco was happening in the other four boroughs. The underground movement inspired an English rock critic named Nik Cohn to write an article in New York magazine focusing on the blue-collar Italian kids in Bay Ridge,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
Don Kaye May 15, 2017
Director John Badman looks back at his disco classic four decades later...
Saturday Night Fever is the film that made John Travolta into a legitimate star, launched the Bee Gees to the pinnacle of pop success and introduced the world to the subculture, music and fashion of disco dancing - specifically the scene in the clubs of the insular blue collar Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bay Ridge. The movie made the scene and music into a national phenomenon that lasted several years, until the disco craze petered out in the early '80s.
See related Better Call Saul season 3 episode 1 review: Mabel Better Call Saul season 2 episode 10 review: Klick Better Call Saul season 2 episode 9 review: Nailed Better Call Saul season 2 episode 8 review: Fifi
The whole thing was based on a New York magazine article called 'Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night', written by a British journalist named...
Director John Badman looks back at his disco classic four decades later...
Saturday Night Fever is the film that made John Travolta into a legitimate star, launched the Bee Gees to the pinnacle of pop success and introduced the world to the subculture, music and fashion of disco dancing - specifically the scene in the clubs of the insular blue collar Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bay Ridge. The movie made the scene and music into a national phenomenon that lasted several years, until the disco craze petered out in the early '80s.
See related Better Call Saul season 3 episode 1 review: Mabel Better Call Saul season 2 episode 10 review: Klick Better Call Saul season 2 episode 9 review: Nailed Better Call Saul season 2 episode 8 review: Fifi
The whole thing was based on a New York magazine article called 'Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night', written by a British journalist named...
- 5/1/2017
- Den of Geek
Drury Lane Theatre announces principal casting for disco musical Saturday Night Fever, revised and rewritten for the Drury Lane stage, featuring music and lyrics by The Bee Gees, based on the smash-hit ParamountRSO Film and the story by Nik Cohn, and adapted for the stage by Robert Stigwood in collaboration with Bill Oaks. This North American version was written by Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti and is helmed by Tony-nominated director and choreographer Dan Knechtges.
- 12/6/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
On this day in movie related history...
1893 Mahatma Gandhi committed his first act of civil disobedience refusing to move from a whites only first class section of a train. He had a valid ticket, after all. He was forcibly ejected in South Africa's Pietermaritzburg Railway Station. This event and many others from his nonviolent revolution were reenacted by Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, Oscar's Best Picture of 1982. (You can cover a lot with a running time of 191 minutes.)
1909 Jessica Tandy is born. Steals Michelle Pfeiffer's Oscar 80 years, 9 months, and 19 days later.
1917 Rat Pack royalty Dean Martin is born. Centennial next year.
1928 Perpetually underappreciated and totally awesome director James Ivory is born. Later makes masterpieces like A Room With a View and Howards End. Where's his Honorary Oscar, AMPAS? He's 87 people get on that immediately.
1937 The original Bombshell, Jean Harlow dies suddenly at the peak of her fame at the age of 26. Where's her biopic?...
1893 Mahatma Gandhi committed his first act of civil disobedience refusing to move from a whites only first class section of a train. He had a valid ticket, after all. He was forcibly ejected in South Africa's Pietermaritzburg Railway Station. This event and many others from his nonviolent revolution were reenacted by Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, Oscar's Best Picture of 1982. (You can cover a lot with a running time of 191 minutes.)
1909 Jessica Tandy is born. Steals Michelle Pfeiffer's Oscar 80 years, 9 months, and 19 days later.
1917 Rat Pack royalty Dean Martin is born. Centennial next year.
1928 Perpetually underappreciated and totally awesome director James Ivory is born. Later makes masterpieces like A Room With a View and Howards End. Where's his Honorary Oscar, AMPAS? He's 87 people get on that immediately.
1937 The original Bombshell, Jean Harlow dies suddenly at the peak of her fame at the age of 26. Where's her biopic?...
- 6/7/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
So sad. Another music legend has died. The Ten Years After guitarist will surely be missed.
Alvin Lee, who performed a monumental 11-minute version of his song “I’m Going Home” at Woodstock, died on March 6, according to his website.
“With great sadness, we have to announce that Alvin unexpectedly passed away early this morning after unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure,” the message read on alvinlee.com, signed by Lee’s daughter, Jasmin, wife, Evi, and former companion Suzanne. “We have lost a wonderful, much loved father and companion. The world has lost a great and truly gifted musician.”
Alvin, who was born in Nottingham, England, in 1944, and later became the lead guitarist of Ten Years After, died on March 6.
Alvin’s 1969 Woodstock Performance
Though Ten Years After never had a top 10 album in America, Alvin earned his status as a musician after his infamous Woodstock performance.
In...
Alvin Lee, who performed a monumental 11-minute version of his song “I’m Going Home” at Woodstock, died on March 6, according to his website.
“With great sadness, we have to announce that Alvin unexpectedly passed away early this morning after unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure,” the message read on alvinlee.com, signed by Lee’s daughter, Jasmin, wife, Evi, and former companion Suzanne. “We have lost a wonderful, much loved father and companion. The world has lost a great and truly gifted musician.”
Alvin, who was born in Nottingham, England, in 1944, and later became the lead guitarist of Ten Years After, died on March 6.
Alvin’s 1969 Woodstock Performance
Though Ten Years After never had a top 10 album in America, Alvin earned his status as a musician after his infamous Woodstock performance.
In...
- 3/7/2013
- by Christopher Rogers
- HollywoodLife
It's easy to forget how shocking the Stones were in 1965. The previously unreleased documentary Charlie Is My Darling is a riveting reminder of when they were a generational lightning rod
Reading on mobile? Watch here
On 3 September 1965, the Rolling Stones flew out for a brief Irish tour. Accompanying them and their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was film-maker Peter Whitehead, who had just shot the infamous International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall – a founding countercultural event later known, after his film title, as Wholly Communion.
Whitehead shot by himself in the Maysles style, with a handheld camera placing the operator and the viewer right in the centre of the action. He was hired by Oldham to see how the Stones materialised on film: it was the mid-60s and all major groups were supposed to star in feature flicks, however cheesy, but the Stones still hadn't. This was their...
Reading on mobile? Watch here
On 3 September 1965, the Rolling Stones flew out for a brief Irish tour. Accompanying them and their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was film-maker Peter Whitehead, who had just shot the infamous International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall – a founding countercultural event later known, after his film title, as Wholly Communion.
Whitehead shot by himself in the Maysles style, with a handheld camera placing the operator and the viewer right in the centre of the action. He was hired by Oldham to see how the Stones materialised on film: it was the mid-60s and all major groups were supposed to star in feature flicks, however cheesy, but the Stones still hadn't. This was their...
- 11/5/2012
- by Jon Savage
- The Guardian - Film News
December 1977: Number 4 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music
Released on 16 December 1977, Saturday Night Fever was the film that broke disco in both senses: it popularised and developed the form at the same time as it froze a vibrant and creative subculture. Saturday Night Fever made disco ubiquitous in 1978. It became a fad – with the inevitable backlash.
The statistics tell the story. The film took more than $3m in the first weekend, eventually going on to gross in the region of $237m; it became the fourth highest grossing movie of 1977. The soundtrack album included six Us No 1s and it topped the charts for 24 weeks in the Us, 18 weeks in the UK.
In fact, disco had been building for several years. In his ground-breaking September 1973 Rolling Stone story, Vince Aletti traced its origins in the underground return of the discotheque, "where the hardcore dance crowd – blacks,...
Released on 16 December 1977, Saturday Night Fever was the film that broke disco in both senses: it popularised and developed the form at the same time as it froze a vibrant and creative subculture. Saturday Night Fever made disco ubiquitous in 1978. It became a fad – with the inevitable backlash.
The statistics tell the story. The film took more than $3m in the first weekend, eventually going on to gross in the region of $237m; it became the fourth highest grossing movie of 1977. The soundtrack album included six Us No 1s and it topped the charts for 24 weeks in the Us, 18 weeks in the UK.
In fact, disco had been building for several years. In his ground-breaking September 1973 Rolling Stone story, Vince Aletti traced its origins in the underground return of the discotheque, "where the hardcore dance crowd – blacks,...
- 6/15/2011
- by Jon Savage
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: After brokering over 30 film and TV option deals for articles from The New York Times since signing the daily as a client, ICM has just signed New York Magazine. It will rep the magazine in all areas to broaden its reach in Hollywood. Under the tenure of editor-in-chief Adam Moss, the magazine is a good read and has won 17 National Magazine Awards. Much like The Times does, New York Mag will share in the revenue and would receive credit in any film made from its articles. There is a wide gulf between an option deal and an actual film, but more and more publications have been getting in on the action over the past several years. Some prominent writers are able to retain screen rights, and they still have agents make deals that the publications don't share. New York Magazine does have a track record for articles on Gotham-centric subjects being turned into films.
- 6/14/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
John Barry's soundtracks often outstripped the films for which they were written. And despite a prickly reputation, when I met him he was the perfect host
While it would be a little outlandish to say that John Barry lived a James Bond lifestyle, it wasn't hard to imagine him in the world of The Persuaders, driving an open-top E-type to the south of France, immaculately turned out, eloping with the au pair. He was, more than many familiar faces, a movie star.
The theme from The Persuaders was – ignoring the James Bond theme, which existed like air – my introduction to the John Barry sound. The opening notes of its electric harpsichord matched high-contrast screen images of Tony Curtis and Roger Moore and created great excitement. It was the soundtrack to many Sunday lunchtimes in the early-70s.
Theme from the Persuaders on the CBS label was one of the first records I owned,...
While it would be a little outlandish to say that John Barry lived a James Bond lifestyle, it wasn't hard to imagine him in the world of The Persuaders, driving an open-top E-type to the south of France, immaculately turned out, eloping with the au pair. He was, more than many familiar faces, a movie star.
The theme from The Persuaders was – ignoring the James Bond theme, which existed like air – my introduction to the John Barry sound. The opening notes of its electric harpsichord matched high-contrast screen images of Tony Curtis and Roger Moore and created great excitement. It was the soundtrack to many Sunday lunchtimes in the early-70s.
Theme from the Persuaders on the CBS label was one of the first records I owned,...
- 1/31/2011
- by Bob Stanley
- The Guardian - Film News
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