John Travolta is a famous American actor who was in many popular movies and was very well-liked.
He was born on February 18, 1954, to an Italian football player and an Irish singer. He learned to sing and dance when he was young, which led to his acting career.
He became well-known quickly. His first big role was in the TV show “Welcome Back, Kotter” from 1975 to 1979. In 1976, he was in the famous thriller movie “Carrie,” based on a Stephen King novel.
In 1977, he starred in “Saturday Night Fever,” and it became a huge hit and a cult classic in the U.S. John suddenly had many fans who wrote him lots of letters.
But in 1978, when the musical “Grease” came out, there was a huge “Travoltamania” all over America. He even sang some songs in the movie, and they became super popular. Many critics praised his acting and predicted a bright future for him in Hollywood.
However, after all this success, John Travolta’s star began to fade. He started acting in movies that didn’t do well commercially, like the good thriller “Blow Out” (1981) by Brian De Palma, and some questionable projects. Later, he admitted that he had a hard time choosing good movies, and he made a lot of mistakes.
It seemed like people were starting to forget about John (even a comedy trilogy called “Look Who’s Talking” didn’t help). But then, something unexpected happened. Or rather, someone extraordinary in the movie business stepped in.
Grease
In 1975, when he was just starting his career, he got involved with a religious movement called Scientology during the filming of “The Devil’s Rain.” He became an active member and continues to be one to this day.
There are many rumors and legends surrounding all of this. For example, people said that John gave almost 90% of his huge earnings to this organization. Some also said that he wanted to leave it for a long time but couldn’t because they knew too many of his personal secrets (there were suspicions about his homosexuality, and it’s said he’s most afraid of that being revealed).
But without a doubt, this modern religious movement has significantly changed John Travolta’s career.
Pulp Fiction
Let’s go back to the actor’s career. Director Quentin Tarantino, who remembered watching those popular movies with Travolta, decided to invite him to his new project, “Pulp Fiction” (1994). This film became a classic in world cinema, and Travolta became popular again. He even got nominated for an Oscar for “Best Actor.”
His next roles made good money at the box office and received positive reviews. For example, his role in the comedy “Get Shorty” (1995) won him a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.”
We should also mention his other good films, like the drama “Phenomenon” (1996), the iconic “Face/Off” (1997), the underrated “A Civil Action” (1997), and the detective movie “The General’s Daughter” (1999), for which he received a $20 million fee.
Travolta’s career was on the rise again. At that time, he was getting many different offers to act in movies (he once said he received 17 offers in one day). But as we remember, he’s not great at choosing roles and, for example, turned down offers from people like Steven Spielberg.
They say some other directors were so disappointed by John’s refusal that they never invited him to their movies again. This would greatly affect his future career decline.
The Main Passion in Life
We should talk about John Travolta’s most significant and expensive hobby. He’s a passionate aviation enthusiast, and he fell in love with airplanes when he was just 5 years old. John has a pilot’s license and has thousands of flying hours. He even had a big passenger plane, a “Boeing 707,” and in 2010, he flew to Russia with his family, sitting in the pilot’s seat.
In 2017, the actor gave that Boeing to the aviation museum in Albion Park, Australia, because he decided to stop piloting due to his age.
The Early 2000s, Major Setback, and Scandals
It seemed like things were going quite well for Travolta’s career, but then came the movie “Battlefield Earth” (2001). There was a lot said about it too: it flopped at the box office, won a bunch of “Golden Raspberry” awards (even for Travolta himself), and critics tore it apart, some even calling it one of the worst movies of the 2000s.
Yes, over time, some softened their stance on the film, but that didn’t change the significant turning point in the actor’s career. After that, he started alternating between failed projects and some decent films that didn’t become particularly successful at the box office.
Among his interesting works from 2001 to 2010, we can mention: the action movie “Basic” (2003), the drama “Ladder 49” (2004), the drama “A Love Song for Bobby Long” (2004), the action film “The Taking of Pelham 123” (2009), and the thriller “From Paris with Love” (2010).
After 2010, things went really bad for the actor (of course, the family tragedy had a role in that, but more on that later). He no longer received good role offers, and he started appearing in anything he could (he even acted in a movie with Bruce Willis). Plus, numerous unpleasant scandals greatly tarnished John’s reputation.
In 2012, one of his massage therapists sued Travolta, accusing him of sexual harassment. The case was later dropped, but the damage was done. In 2017, another massage therapist accused John of something similar, but that case also faded away.
In 2014, a former pilot of Travolta’s airline, Douglas Gotterba, claimed that he had a sexual relationship with Travolta for six years. John denied it, and the case was dismissed, but the actor’s reputation suffered.
That’s how the challenging 2010s went for the actor. But all of this is nothing compared to the personal shocks in his life.
Loss of Loved Ones
The first big pain the actor went through was in 1977. While filming the movie “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” (1976), Travolta met actress Diana Hyland, and they started a passionate romance. Later, Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer, and in 1977, she passed away in John Travolta’s arms.
The actor had several long-term relationships, but he found his happiness with actress Kelly Preston. They got married in 1991, and throughout their marriage, they faced a couple of divorce threats. However, according to Travolta, Scientology therapy helped keep their marriage together.
In this marriage, they had two sons: Jett (born in 1992) and Benjamin (born in 2010), and a daughter named Ella Bleu (born in 2000).
But on January 2, 2009, a real tragedy happened in the actor’s family, from which he has never fully recovered. Jett, Travolta’s eldest son who had autism, drowned in the bathtub due to an epilepsy seizure caused by Kawasaki syndrome (a blood vessel problem). The worst part was that the whole family was home at the time, and John tried to revive his son until it was too late.
It seemed like the actor had already faced enough hardships in his life, but another heavy loss of a loved one occurred. After a long battle, Kelly Preston passed away from breast cancer on July 12, 2020. After this, the widowed John Travolta dedicated himself to raising his younger son, Ben (who is now 13), and having a close bond with his daughter, Ella Bleu (23 years old).
Awaiting a Comeback
At the age of 69, the actor is now fully engaged in making films that might not be of the highest quality. Perhaps he isn’t offered interesting roles anymore, or maybe he chose this way to escape from the sad events of previous years.
John Travolta has made impressive comebacks in his career before, so we can hope that he is capable of doing it again. Who knows, maybe another director like Tarantino will offer him a memorable role that the audience will remember.
We also wish John happiness in his personal life, which, first and foremost, can come from his beloved children.
