All language subtitles for Hollywood.Icons.S01E01.John.Travolta.Dancefloor.Star.Comeback.King.1080p.MY5.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

In the 1970s, John Travolta was
Hollywood's prince of cool -

hip-swivelling heart-throb,

star of '70s hits
Saturday Night Fever...

When he commanded that light-up
dance floor,

John Travolta was very, very cool.

..and Grease.

With the hips, with the swagger,
with the wobble in his voice,

I mean, he really is a rock
and roll king.

He saw a meteoric rise to fame, and
the world was at his dancing feet.

People were screaming, pushing.

When he came out of the car
they were pulling his hair.

On the back of Grease, the world
was his oyster.

But, for every stratospheric high...

Everybody wanted to be
John Travolta. Everybody.

..came a devastating low.

He actually said he didn't think
he would recover.

He didn't think he'd even come
out of his bedroom.

And, as he fell out of fashion,
a career in freefall...

Four or five years, to go from being
the biggest movie star

on the planet to being someone that
no-one wants to hire.

..threatened to wipe him
off the map.

Do you want him in your movie?
Is he going to make you money?

No, not really.

In this programme, we reveal how
Travolta has survived

the roller-coaster of his career,
and a personal life ravaged

by tragedy, to return triumphant,
the king of the comeback.

That is the greatest
comeback of all time.

With incredible access to those
close to him - his dance coach...

He knew from the very beginning

that the music and the dance
were the movie.

..his co-stars...

The entire place converged on us,
and we were like,

"Oh, my God!" It was out of body.

..his director...

He would call me late at night to
ask me about which take I printed.

..and his close friend.

It was in those moments that I think
he was lonely.

Even with people around.

This is the story of a man whose
every success

came alongside relentless
personal heartache,

and of the survival against the odds

of a living Hollywood legend.

MUSIC: Stayin' Alive
by Bee Gees

It's December 1977, and the world
has caught Saturday Night Fever.

In the opening sequence of the film,

John Travolta struts his way
onto the big screen.

That opening scene starts with
the shoes, and it's fine.

There's a guy who's got a little
strut going on, and the camera

pans up, and it gets to his face,

and you just think, who is this guy?
You are already riveted.

He's got this swagger, he's got this
red collar,

there's the leather jacket.

His shoes are perfect.

It's like an arrival.
It's not an entrance.

It's an arrival.

The film launched Travolta
into global stardom

and won him an Oscar nomination.

But behind this
smouldering performance,

he was in the throes of grief.

During the filming
of Saturday Night Fever,

his girlfriend died in his arms.

And then he had to fly back
to New York and go on to the set

of Saturday Night Fever almost as
if nothing had happened.

Travolta was 23.
The world was at his feet.

Yet, this devastating tragedy was
the first of a series

of heartbreaking losses that
would scar his life.

For every dizzying career high,

there would come
a crushing personal low.

How did he survive this
roller-coaster

of success and tragedy?

Let's rewind to the very beginning.

- NEWSREEL:
- Across the Hudson River
from New York City

is the city of Englewood.

Attractive suburban homes,
with their neat lawns.

John Joseph Travolta was born
in 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey.

He had an Irish-Italian background.

He grew up kind
of like a regular kid.

His father was a semi-professional
football player,

but his father also ended up
having a tyre store.

His mother Helen had been
an actress.

She was the big
influence on their family.

She taught theatre,
she taught dancing,

and she brought the culture
into the Travolta house.

Not only his mother was a great

influence, but his sisters.

And his brothers as well, but it...
You know, they were performers.

They would do plays, they would
sing, they would dance.

It was the fun dynamic.

Travolta was the youngest of six.

He was the runt of the litter.
He was always taken care of.

There was something about John that
made you want to protect him.

He was a vulnerable,
sensitive person,

and so you just wanted to, you
know, hug him...

..and take care of him,
make sure he was OK.

His childhood gave him
a love of acting.

He also developed
a passion for flying.

The house he was brought up
in in New Jersey

was actually under the flight path
of the local airport,

and he loved going out into
the back yard

and looking up at those
jets thundering overhead.

He would wonder who was on those
planes, what they were eating,

what they were doing,
where they were sitting.

I think John's love affair with
flying kind of came out of that.

After leaving school at 16,

Travolta went to New York to
pursue his acting ambitions.

A year later, he secured a meeting
with casting director Joel Thurm.

Part of my job was just to
meet people.

I mean, you could meet five people
a day,

but there's one person who's
going to stand out.

John came into the room
full of everything.

He was intelligent, he was gorgeous,

he had a sense of humour,
he was polite.

I mean, all the things that
you want.

His big-screen debut came in 1975,
in a low-budget,

low-quality horror called
The Devil's Rain.

THUNDERCLAP

There's never been anything like...

- THUNDERCLAP
- ..The Devil's Rain.

Travolta's character only had
a couple of lines.

The plot made very little sense.

On set in Mexico,
he was disillusioned.

On Devil's Rain, John found
himself isolated,

a long way from home, bit miserable.

This wasn't a glamorous film shoot.

But there was one familiar face.

Joan Prather, who he had met
on Broadway.

She was a Scientologist.

This reunion would lead to
a life-changing experience.

Joan Prather performed
a process on John

in order to get him into the church
of Scientology.

John described it as being
outside his own body.

It became a spiritual
experience for him.

For Travolta, whose
self-confidence was low,

it was an introduction that had
a huge impact.

I think most people
know that Scientology,

when they come to you and say,
"We have all the answers in life,"

realise that that can't be true,

but, you know, for somebody like
Travolta

at that point in his life,
it was something he liked to hear.

Now living in California, Travolta
started attending

the LA Scientology Celebrity Centre,

where he experienced what seemed
to be the power of Scientology.

I've talked to a woman who
was his course supervisor there,

and one day he told her

that he had an audition for a new
television series.

So, she had everybody
in the class stand up,

face towards the studio where
the audition was going to happen,

and do in Scientology what
they call a postulate.

They all focus their thoughts
on that studio,

hoping for a good result for John.

And she said, sure enough,
a couple of weeks later,

he came back to the course
and told them that he had landed

the role on this new show about some
high school kids in New York.

That show was Welcome Back Kotter,

and it brought John Travolta into
the living rooms of America.

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
was Travolta's co-star.

I played
Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington,

who was the cool brother,
and John Travolta played Barbarino,

who was supposed to be this suave
Italian stallion.

The first thing you got to do is
the Vinnie Barbarino look.

OK? Your hair, for instance.

Very casual.

It should look like it's being
blown by unseen winds.

Even though Mr Kotter was originally
what the whole show was about,

it soon became apparent that
people were more interested

in Vinnie Barbarino.

He was cool, charming, cheeky,
always getting into scrapes,

but kind of could
charm his way out of things.

And it was an instant explosion.
People went crazy for it.

He was getting more fan mail than
the rest of the cast combined.

John Travolta was the face on every
girl's bedroom wall.

We decided to go to get
something to eat,

and the entire place
converged on us.

And we were like, "Oh, my God!"
It was out of body.

Thousands of fans would show up
when he would do a signing.

I remember one he did in Chicago,

and they expected a few hundred
people, and 10,000 people showed up.

In less than a year, Travolta had
become a household name,

and a teen idol.

The attention was overwhelming,

as he described on TV show
American Bandstand.

The other night, I went to
a discotheque.

Now, I forgot that
I'm on the series, right?

And they weren't going to let me in,
and the bouncer there said,

"Oh, my God!" He said, "You're
Vinny Barbarino, aren't you?"

- LAUGHTER
- I started dancing, and I forgot that

all the crowds and people were
watching me dance and stuff.

And I got pinched more than...
I got pinched.

I mean, I felt like a girl.

We went to Disneyland.

This was pretty early on,
and it was a time when he was being,

you know, recognised a lot.

And so John had on a disguise.

He had on a funny nose
and glasses and hat.

And we were around,
and it was working.

Nobody was recognising him.

And, as the day wore on, little bits
and pieces

of the disguise started to come off.

You know, first the glasses
and then the moustache,

and then of course people
started to recognise him.

Things happened over those few
months incredibly fast.

He went from being unknown to being

someone who had to disguise
himself to walk in the street.

As Travolta's rise continued,

it seemed his personal life was
also falling into place.

On the set of a TV film called
The Boy In The Plastic Bubble,

he met fellow actor Diana Hyland.

She was 18 years older than him.

For Travolta, this relationship
offered something familiar.

Family is very important to John.

Diana was the complete package.

She also came with a child,

and John became sort of like a
father figure to that boy.

Travolta's seemingly unstoppable
ascent would continue,

and a year later, he would
get his big Hollywood break

in the disco hit
Saturday Night Fever.

Everybody wanted to be
John Travolta. Everybody.

But, in a cruel twist of fate,
a tragic loss would leave him

devastated just as he reached
new career heights.

None of this was in the script.

Those were real tears, because of
how he was feeling at the time.

In 1977, John Travolta was living
the life

he'd dreamed of since childhood.

He was star of the TV series that
had made him a household name,

and his success was about to
step up a gear.

He landed a three-picture deal with
a major Hollywood producer.

People saw the success that he had
with Welcome Back, Kotter,

and it was obvious that producers
were going to go,

"Hang on. He's something special."

He was not your typical film star.

He had such an interesting face,
an Irish-Italian kid who was

kind of, in a way, goofy-looking
and handsome at the same time.

The first film to be made,
about the New York disco scene,

would propel Travolta to
new heights.

- MUSIC:
- Stayin' Alive
by Bee Gees

Would you just watch the hair?

Dancing, it can't last forever.

It's a short-lived kind of thing.

You know how many times somebody
told me I was good in my life?

Two. Twice.

MUSIC: Disco Inferno
by The Trammps

He's very good, huh?

- He's the best.
- Hey, man, he's great.
He's great.

Keen to give it his all, Travolta
started training for the role

while still shooting TV show
Welcome Back, Kotter.

He was beyond excited,
nervous, crazy.

You know, "Wow, I can't believe this
is happening. I want to do my best."

The afternoon after
Welcome Back, Kotter,

he would go jogging, and take me
with him, so we would jog

around Hollywood High School all
the time, and then they would go off

into rehearsals, where
he would work with Deney Terrio.

Deney Terrio was a competitive
dancer and real-life king of disco.

He got the job of coaching Travolta.

I had been winning all the dance
contests in California.

Singles, couples.... And that's how
I made my living.

So, they hired me to train John how
to do that form of dance.

Determined to give it his best shot,
Travolta threw himself

into a gruelling five months of
dance training.

When I first got the job, I was
like, "This might be difficult."

He said, "I already know how
to dance."

So, I put some music on and I said,
"Well, let's see, John,"

and he started dancing.
And I said, "OK, that's all right,"

and I sat him down, and I said, "but
this is what I want to teach you."

And I put my music on and I
started doing the knee drops

and the splits, and the Russian leap
and the point,

and he just looked at me and said,
"Oh, I gotta learn that."

Deney took Travolta out dancing.

He could not believe the atmosphere.

He fell in love with the disco,

and people dressing up in the suits,
and their hair done.

And it was the process of teaching
him the way of life, of that life.

John's absolute dedication to
preparing for the role

would become a hallmark
of his career.

He'll work on a character
until it's...

..it goes from the page into
his being.

And then he can be totally free to
be someone who he's not.

And that's when he feels like
he can do his best acting.

There was no stopping him.

He knew, I think, from the very
beginning, that the music

and the dance were the movie.

Five months with Deney had paid off,

and Travolta was ready to start
filming on location in New York.

But there was something missing from
the script

that he was determined to put right.

John Travolta felt that his
character is meant to be this great

star dancer, but yet, in the script,
there was no solo dance for him.

So, he pushed for that.

- He's saying, "Look, I trained for
ages for this.
- Let's show it off."

For a guy in his first major movie
role to be making those demands,

at the time, was probably a little
bit of a shock.

He was definitely a perfectionist.

I think sometimes people thought
he might have been difficult.

But he just wanted to get it right.
His instincts were good.

The result was an iconic
movie moment.

The scene where John Travolta
does his solo dance,

clears the dance floor to You Could
Be Dancing, by the Bee Gees,

it's one of the most memorable
scenes in the whole movie.

When he commanded that
light-up dance floor,

John Travolta was very, very cool.

# What you doin' on your back?

# What you doin' on your back?

# You should be dancing, yeah... #

And there's an emoji out

of the point that John
did in Saturday Night Fever.

Are we talking staying power,
or what?

But as Travolta was filming
the movie that would make his name,

his personal life was in crisis.

His girlfriend Diana had been
diagnosed with cancer.

She absolutely loved him. You know,
and he worshipped her.

He looked up to her.

He had to go from being a caring
partner to someone who was dying

of cancer to being a cocky,
streetwise disco boy

in Saturday Night Fever.

John spent every spare moment
away from set with Diana,

until March, 1977.

She actually died in his arms,
and then he had to get

back on that aeroplane, fly back
to New York and go on to the set

of Saturday Night Fever,
almost as if nothing had happened.

It was...awful.

It was awful.

The highest of highs
and the lowest of lows, you know?

When it happened, you know,
my heart dropped.

I can't imagine what it
was like for him.

Devastated by this tragic loss,

but contractually obliged to keep
filming, Travolta returned to set.

He was in a very, very
tender state.

He was described as a zombie
by his director.

But was obviously a broken man,

was obviously incredibly hurt by it,

and in mourning.

But he still had to make the movie.

Travolta's pain is clear in a scene

with his on-screen
girlfriend, Stephanie.

They're on a park bench overlooking
a New York bridge,

and he's beginning the scene
by discussing how it got built.

They got 40 million cars
going across there a year.

And with the on-ramps,

that altogether totals something
like two and one half miles.

But then Stephanie kisses him, and
there's a welling up in his eyes.

None of this was in the script.
Those were real tears.

Those were real tears
coming from John Travolta

because of how
he was feeling at the time.

Travolta's moving performance
in Saturday Night Fever

won him worldwide acclaim.

John Travolta went on to win
an Academy Award nomination

for Best Actor for his performance
in Saturday Night Fever,

and I believe that's not just
because he can dance very well.

He really displayed
a level of vulnerability

and humanity in this role.

He made you care about a character
who, really,

apart from dancing, didn't have
anything going for him.

There was no other actor who could
have played that role

and carried it off like
John Travolta did. None.

It's Travolta's movie.

Everybody wanted to
be John Travolta. Everybody.

And it just catapulted him
into a new level.

Now he was a movie star.

At the age of only 23,

Travolta had already experienced
incredible success

and heartbreaking tragedy.

In 1978, he was interviewed on
TV show Up Close.

He was asked about his similarity

to his character in
Saturday Night Fever.

Are you as vulnerable as he?

- Yes.
- Yeah?
- Absolutely.

How do you deal with that in this
town? I mean, in the middle

of Hollywood, the movie-making,
television business and so forth?

I don't do too much.
I don't go out very much.

I work, basically.

And I don't really party

or meet a whole lot of people.

I think that fragility is something
that he's kept through his life,

but I think that's what
audiences see,

and they become attracted to him
because of it.

He's vulnerable.
You can see that vulnerability,

that any minute he's going
to shed a tear.

There was something about John that
made you want to protect him.

Kate Edwards and her mother worked
with John in the 1970s,

and they became close
personal friends.

I think we all adopted one another.

It was just a sort of instant
kind of a connection

with me and my mum and my grandma.
Just our whole family.

I think it was our normalcy, maybe.

We became like family.

He was like my brother.

You know, it was really...
It was great.

As Travolta's fame skyrocketed,

he created a circle of those
he trusted.

I think, because of the fame,

and everybody wanting bits and
pieces of him,

it became harder to trust people,
and people's motives.

So, the people that tended to be,

sort of, his extended family were
people that had known him before.

That was the safe haven.

And despite the lack of privacy
that came with fame,

Travolta still found ways to
let his hair down.

He would come to our house,
unannounced, at night,

knocking on the door,

"Come on, you guys, let's go to
Palm Springs."

And he'd have a wad of money and a
toothbrush in a brown paper bag,

and we'd get in the car, my mum,
my grandma and I and the dogs,

and go to Palm Springs
and spend the weekend.

And there was so much fun
and so much laughter,

and that's, I think, how John coped.

Travolta's star was on the rise,

but he still hadn't
reached his pinnacle.

Another smash hit.

# Go, greased lightnin',
you're burnin' up the quarter mile

# Greased lightnin'
Go, greased lightnin'... #

The girls love him,
the guys want to be him.

He's oozing sex appeal.

He just seemed untouchable,
where he could do no wrong.

And yet, another crushing low was
just around the corner.

She hadn't told him that she'd been
diagnosed has having cancer.

In 1977, John Travolta lost
the love of his life, Diana Hyland,

to cancer, just as his career
in Hollywood was taking off.

He was still in deep mourning,

and was about to embark
on the filming of his next movie.

John Travolta.

Olivia Newton-John.

Grease.

John Travolta, the sensational
star of Saturday Night Fever,

ignites the screen.

John plays Danny Zuko,
who is the coolest guy in school.

Everyone looks up to him,
everyone thinks he's amazing.

Leader of the gang, the T-Birds.

That's cool, baby.

I mean, you know how it is, rocking
and rolling and whatnot.

What's the matter with you?

What's the matter with me,
baby? What's the matter with you?

The girls love him,
the guys want to be him.

He's oozing sex appeal,
but he's also vulnerable,

and he's trying to impress.

This role wasn't entirely
new to him.

John Travolta had previously been in
the stage production of this show,

and he'd played Doody,
one of the lesser characters.

And now he got the chance to
be Danny Zuko,

and that's the role you want.

After his emotional
performance in Saturday Night Fever,

this film was more upbeat.

So, a lot of the ups and downs,
dramatically speaking,

weren't required. And this must have
been a complete relief to him

after the emotional roller-coaster
ride of Saturday Night Fever.

It was a musical. He didn't have
to show his heartbreak.

He didn't have to show his anger.

Instead, Travolta showed some slick
moves and smooth vocals.

# Took her bowling
in the arcade... #

I think Summer Nights is
one of the best movie songs ever.

And, that was, like, one
of the first things we shot.

I mean, but everything he did in
the movie was good. Everything.

- # Well, she got friendly,
down in the sand...
- #

He's really got swagger.
He's really got style.

That's the dancing
highlight of the movie, for me.

- # Tell me more, tell me more
- Could she get me a friend? #

Despite his slick performance,
Travolta was anxious

and was having trouble sleeping.

He wanted to make sure that anything
he did was really, really

as good as it could be.
He was a perfectionist, I'd say.

To the extent that he would call me,
late at night,

to ask me about which take
I printed,

and to discuss the next day's work.

And I didn't have insomnia, so it
was a bit annoying.

I think he could tell that
I was very sleepy,

and he finally got the message not
to call me late at night.

Travolta was filming Grease only
12 weeks after the tragic death

of his girlfriend, Diana Hyland.

As a way of coping, he had thrown
himself into work.

There wasn't enough room in his head
to mourn or grieve

during the shooting of Grease.
There was just so much going on.

And rehearsing the dance numbers,
doing the singing tracks,

and then practising that...

You know, there's no way to
just sit around and worry.

But, during the shoot, Travolta
received a painful reminder.

He took a break, and that's when
the People magazine cover came out

that talked about that.

He'd done an interview with People,

and they had said they weren't
going to emphasise that.

It was a bit exploitational
about his relationship with Diana,

and his face kind of got white,

because he had been promised
they wouldn't do that.

I could see that it upset him
that they had betrayed him there,

but he went back into the stage

and just threw himself into
it again, and gave it all.

While Travolta's heartbreak didn't
show on screen, in 1978,

the year Grease was released,
he opened up to interviewer

David Frost about his relationship
with Diana.

You know, that was one,

one relationship that happened to
fill many of my needs.

And I hope again that
a relationship

could again fill a lot of
those needs.

You know, that doesn't happen,
maybe, very often in anyone's life,

so, I mean, the idea that
it's happened once

already in my life is pretty good,
I think.

Now, if it could happen again
that would be lovely.

You said, until then, you'd thought
that you might never have

a successful relationship
with anyone.

Yes, that's true, because it had not
really happened up until then.

And then this relationship
came along and became a sort of...

You know, when least expected,
it sort of just fulfilled me.

Did you feel the fates were cruel,
in a way,

when she was taken from you?

Yes. Erm...

But even more for her,
I think, than for me.

Despite his grief,
John delivered hit after hit.

Why, it could be greased lightnin'.

John's quintessential performance
in Grease was Greased Lightning.

# Get some overhead lifters
And four-barrel quads, oh yeah

# Keep talking
Whoa, keep talking... #

It's raunchy, it's masculine,
it's funny.

Has a great beat. You can
dance to it.

# Go, go, go
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go

# Go, greased lightnin', you're
burning up the quarter-mile

# Greased lightnin'
Go, greased lightnin'

# Go, greased lightnin'

# You're coasting through the heat
lap trials... #

It's a wonderful performance.

It was his idea to come down sitting
on the engine block.

They didn't want to do that.

They thought it was going to break
and he was going to kill himself.

It's a real moment for John to
show off, with the hips,

with the swagger, with
the wobble in his voice.

I mean, he really is a rock
and roll king in that scene.

Travolta filmed Grease in the summer
of 1977, and temperatures soared.

For the dance contest scene,

this posed an unusual
challenge for him and the cast.

We were next to a slaughterhouse,
and it was August,

there was no air conditioning,
and the smell of dead pigs

infiltrated the room while we
were shooting,

and everyone was sweating,
and it smelled horrible.

But when we ran the cameras, they,
bam, jumped right up into it.

That stuffy, stuffy smelly hot gym

just broke into magic when we ran
the cameras.

Grease was released a mere
six months

after Saturday Night Fever,
and was another huge hit.

Paramount didn't have great
hopes for Grease,

but actually it was a huge success

and ended up becoming the second
most successful musical ever.

Just as Fever-mania was dying off,
Grease came out and took over.

So, there was no real escape from
John Travolta,

over quite a short period of time.

As a teen star, it made him
bigger than ever.

Because this was a more
child/teen-friendly movie

than Saturday Night Fever.

So, Grease was even bigger than
Saturday Night Fever

at the box office, because it was
just available to more people.

The PG film premiered in London
in June, 1978.

Travolta was unprepared
for the fans' enthusiasm.

Well, we went to England,

and had the premiere
there in Leicester Square.

By that time,
he was a gigantic star,

probably the biggest star in
the world at that moment.

And there was a mob scene outside
Leicester Square.

We were in cars pulling up,

and the crowd was rocking the cars
back and forth.

People were screaming, pushing.

When he came out of the car
they were pulling his hair.

And when we got out of it,
we had to push our way through.

The crowd was pushing him
around like that,

and people were trying to grab
John's hair and his clothes.

And when we got into the lobby,
he was just shaking,

because he was... It was so scary.

Travolta now had two huge
global hits under his belt.

He was certainly in a position,
after the success of Grease,

where he just seemed untouchable,
where he could do no wrong.

On the back of Grease,
the world was his oyster.

It's as though all of Hollywood
was at his feet.

He could, at that moment in time,
have done anything.

I'm on top of the world.
What could go wrong?

But, once again,
stratospheric success

would coincide with
devastating tragedy.

When Travolta took his mother to
the Oscars in 1978,

he knew she was ill,
but she was keeping a secret.

Helen was incredibly protective
towards him.

Even when she went to the Oscar
ceremony with John,

following his success
in Saturday Night Fever,

she didn't tell him she had cancer.

She knew what he'd been through with
the death of Diana Hyland

only 18 months earlier,
and she wanted to protect him.

It was always her priority,
was to protect John.

Her cancer was terminal.

As her illness progressed, Travolta
found ways to keep her spirits up.

We would go and visit Helen
almost every day.

There was one particular day
I remember very well,

where John and I went to
the hospital

and we did song and dance numbers

all afternoon for his mum.

You know? Because she was
from musical theatre.

And we would sing and we would dance

and we would make her laugh, and...

I treasure that memory, actually.

She was a lovely woman.

Eight months later,
Helen Travolta died.

Helen's death left a huge
void in John Travolta's life.

This was the woman, the mother,
who analysed his career,

who went through
all his scripts with him,

who encouraged him to be an actor in
the first place.

I think he was pleased that
his mother got to see

that he was nominated for an Oscar,

but the huge holes in his heart...

You know, how do you fix that?

I have a picture of him...

I think we were in the Grand Canyon,
and he was just sitting on a rock.

I knew who he was missing.

It was in those moments that I think
he was lonely,

you know, even with people around.

He was... There was
a lonely part inside.

All of the outside success doesn't
fill up

that inner emptiness,

no matter how big the success is.

Travolta was devastated
by these losses.

After a stellar start to his career,
all eyes were on his next move.

Travolta accepted another lead role,
but got cold feet.

He basically quit. They were willing
to shut down and wait for him,

but he just pulled out of it.

And as a new decade dawned,

his roller-coaster career would
plummet to an all-time low.

The bubble had to burst

because he just couldn't keep up
this level of success.

In the 1970s, John Travolta had
seen a meteoric rise to fame

in two mega-hits,
Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

But as the '70s drew to a close,
the decade that had launched him

into superstardom was swiftly
falling out of fashion.

Do you want to be connected

with that particular moment in
time, forever?

It's a blessing and a curse having
a mega-hit on your hands.

By the time it got to '78, '79,
people were burning disco records.

People were smashing disco records.

"I hate disco" became a thing.

If you play a role where you're the
world's most famous disco dancer,

and then disco goes
out of fashion, well,

there's always the danger that you
might go out of fashion as well.

Travolta had experienced
the devastating losses

of both his girlfriend and his
beloved mother to cancer.

He was still tied to
a three-picture deal,

and, after Saturday Night Fever
and Grease,

he was contractually obliged to
make a third film.

It broke his winning streak.

The third of his three-picture deal
with Paramount

was a pretty poor film
called Moment By Moment.

John Travolta.

Do you remember me?

Lily Tomlin.

I'm sure I don't.

Two special people...

Did you remember me?

Yes, I remembered you.

Oh, I thought so. Good.

..in a very special film.

It just didn't work.

I think that sort of took the wind
out of the sails.

It didn't do him any good,
because he'd made two

very big-grossing films, suddenly
he makes one that isn't so good.

That was a flop. And he was kind of
sad about that.

He was pretty depressed.

The negative response to
Moment By Moment

further dented Travolta's
already shaky confidence.

He took the criticism of
Moment By Moment very personally,

and maybe somebody who was a bit
older might have been able to

tackle it more, but on top of that
he'd had the blows of people

dying around him, and I think
it all combined.

It was like a perfect storm
of grief and failure,

and he found it very difficult
to handle.

Travolta felt intense pressure to
live up to his earlier successes.

I mean, you're lucky in a career
if you get one film that does

what Saturday Night Fever
or Grease...

It just doesn't happen.

So, to have that bar

to constantly keep aspiring to

kind of gets debilitating.

So, you don't want to make
a decision.

There were some roles on the horizon
with the potential

to keep him at the top.

He was offered a script called
An Officer And A Gentleman,

and he was supposed to be the lead,
and he turned it down.

That was one where, I think,
the rest of us were like,

"We really like this."

There's just something about it
that he didn't...he didn't see.

Travolta had another
reason for not taking the part,

as he explained in a 1995 interview.

Now, Officer And A Gentleman was
a different thing,

because I was studying to be a
jet pilot, and my life...

And jet school was important?

And jet school was personally
important to me.

So, I chose life over a film.

He hadn't finished his pilot
training.

So, you know, "I'm not sure I want
to do An Officer And A Gentleman,

"so I think I'm going to let
someone else

"sweep Debra Winger off her feet."

That someone else was
an up-and-coming actor called

Richard Gere, who took the role
after John Travolta turned it down.

Richard Gere obviously became
the breakout star of the '80s,

but that's also because he starred
in films

in which Travolta was due to star.

This wasn't the only role that
Travolta rejected

that went to Richard Gere.

He basically quit American Gigolo.

They were willing to shut down
and wait for him,

but he just pulled out of it.

He just felt like he couldn't do it
justice in that moment

and he begged Paramount to let him
out of doing that film.

Which they said yes to,
but in order to say yes,

they wanted to have his next
two pictures.

This agreement left him
contractually bound to Paramount,

but Travolta didn't like the roles
they were offering.

And then it just seemed to get
longer and longer between projects,

and when that happens, I think it
gets harder to make a decision

as to what you want to do,
because so much attention

is going to be placed on it.
You don't want to make a mistake.

It's a bad time for him.

He kept turning down
good opportunities,

and the opportunities he did take
didn't work, didn't connect.

Further to this, all of the uncool
worries were piling up.

This is the Grease guy.

You know, this is the disco guy.

Do you want him in your movie?

Is he going to make you money?
No, not really.

In a 1995 interview,

Travolta revealed how his lack
of confidence held him back.

I don't have a lot of interest
in fighting for myself.

I'll fight for my family,
I'll fight for my religion,

I'll fight for what I believe in,
but when it comes to fighting

for scripts, I really do need
someone else to be

in there fighting for me.

If you had other big actors at
the same table with me and we were

all vying for the same job,
I would talk you into using them.

Because I'm not comfortable...

With his career now in freefall,
he was finding it hard to cope.

He's talked about depression.
It's understandable.

I mean, it was all going so well,
and then it wasn't.

He became a joke.

And it all happened so quickly.

Finally, Paramount offered a script
that Travolta agreed to.

It was to be directed by Rocky star
Sylvester Stallone.

They obviously wanted him to do
a sequel to Saturday Night Fever,

that he kept shying away from and
shying away from,

but in order to fulfil that
obligation to Paramount,

eventually he decided to do it.

Travolta revisited the role
of the maturing Tony Manero.

It was going to put him
in the spotlight again.

Even if the movie wasn't that great,
it would get a lot of press,

because it was a sequel to
a massive success.

And maybe John thought that's what
people want to see him doing.

To reprise a character that people
know and love

can be box office gold.

You are not the greatest dancer to
ever hit Broadway.

What you have is anger
and a certain intensity,

and that's what I need to make this
show work.

It is everything that's
bad about the '80s in many ways.

I think it's hugely kitsch.

It's a lot of writhing
around in leotards.

A very, very strange film.

As he had with Saturday Night Fever,
Travolta threw himself

into preparing for the role.

The work he put into
Staying Alive was huge,

and I think Travolta really liked
that element of that film,

and the training that he had to
do to get in shape.

I went to the set to visit him
there, to say hello,

and he was so buffed up,
and I didn't recognise him.

I was looking around,
"Where's John?"

The film did well at the box office,

but did nothing to boost
Travolta's kudos as an actor.

The weird thing about Staying Alive
is that it's not actually

that long after
Saturday Night Fever.

But so much had changed.
Disco had gone out of fashion,

John Travolta had gone
out of fashion.

Backward steps for him personally,
because he was back to playing

that sort of character
he was trying to get away from.

He wanted to be known as an actor,
you know, not as a dancer.

He loved the dancing,
but he was an actor.

He learned to dance
because he was a great actor,

and I think, in the '80s, he was
really trying to get away from that.

He was searching for the new
John Travolta.

His search continued.

In 1984, he took a role in a film
called Perfect.

I would gladly take
one of your aerobic classes

if you let me interview you.

I was really beginning
to like you, too.

Perfect is about an undercover
journalist,

played by John Travolta, who is
required to go into aerobics classes

run by Jamie Lee Curtis's character,
as some kind of investigation.

And so therefore he must dress up
in short shorts, and thrust a lot.

The look on his face is amazing.

He's just really into it.

He's really enjoying it.

So, yeah, the shorts are scarily
short, though.

Wow. What was everybody thinking?
You know?

Despite Travolta's enthusiasm,
the film was a flop.

His career had now hit rock-bottom.

I remember that John did say
that picking non-hit movies was

a bad habit of his.

He did a string of really, really
bad unprofitable movies.

So what happened to him
happens to everybody.

You do a bunch of bad movies,

your stock goes down,
and nobody wants you.

This is probably four or five years,
to go from being the biggest

movie star on the planet to being
someone that no-one wants to hire.

That, of course, is going
to affect him.

He wants to impress people,

and he wants to show people what he
can do,

and he wasn't being allowed to.

But, despite his failing career,

Travolta was given a chance to
shine in 1985, by Royal appointment.

He went to the White House
for a Presidential dinner,

and it was strongly suggested to him
that Princess Diana,

who was also in attendance,

would very much like him to ask her
to dance.

John, are you going to dance with
the Princess tonight?

If she'd like me to.

It was a really
extraordinary moment,

and it was photographed
and shown around the world.

When I saw him dance with Princess
Diana,

he had a glow about him.

His face was glowing.

He was smiling.

And, it was almost like he had
always wanted to do this.

That was a high point for him.
He loved her.

She had that
vulnerability that he had.

He had had unhappiness
with the losses in his life,

she wasn't happy at that
period of time.

I imagine that they had
a lot in common.

Really touchingly, actually,
Travolta has commented on

that moment as being a real
highlight in an otherwise fairly
dire career decade for him.

After this brief burst of global
stardom,

it would be another four years
before Travolta's next film.

To cope with this low period,
he took to the skies.

If he's ever having a bad day,
he'll go fly a plane.

He said that's what keeps him sane.

I think there's a nostalgia
that goes with it.

And, there's a romance that
goes with it.

Back in the '60s when he was a boy,
flying was romantic.

You know, you got dressed up,
they served lovely food,

and he knew every single detail
about every single plane.

You know, he collected schedules,
flight schedules.

He'd also make pretend tickets,
to give to his family,

when he was a little boy,
pretend tickets.

And when he was a big boy too,
we had tickets.

In 1992,
Travolta was inspired to write

and illustrate a story book called

Propeller One-Way Night Coach.

He actually wrote a children's
book about an eight-year-old boy's

first flight, and it's
so quintessentially John,

and there's
so much of John in that book.

It's an homage not only to flying,
but also to his mum.

In 1995, Travolta reflected on how
flying helps him.

It gives me a sense of objectivity,
and extraversion,

that, often, being an artist
doesn't,

because, when you're an artist,
often, you're looking inward,

and when you're a pilot
you're looking outward.

There is a presence,
and a presentness,

and a stillness, and a freedom

that came when he was flying.
Just loved it.

He loved every single aspect of it.

And he loved sharing it.

Actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was
one of John's passengers,

and witnessed a transformation.

He became a different guy
when he had to fly the plane.

He was very serious.
He had a whole checklist.

He checked everything.
And he touched down easily.

To this day,
I'm still impressed by that,

because I saw a John I didn't know.

You know, this very serious, to the
rules, very precise person.

So, I was impressed with that,
of course.

He's a damn, damn good pilot.

So good that, in the late '80s,

with his movie career seemingly
over, he considered switching jobs.

His career was going so badly
at that time that he was seriously

contemplating that, once he had all
his pilot's qualifications,

he would work for an airline,
full-time, as a pilot,

and quit Hollywood.

When you're an actor, they always
say you have to have something to
fall back on.

He could always do that.
He got jet-raided.

He spent a lot of time
at American Airlines flight school.

In this interview,

Travolta revealed his feelings about
the idea his career may be over.

I thought, OK, maybe this,
is it? You know?

Maybe the offers, the good offers
will no longer be around the corner.

But you've had 20 years of it,
a good run in film, and, you know,

maybe you've made some mistakes, but
you've also done some good things.

If you have to say goodbye in this
fashion, that's not so bad.

Travolta didn't ditch the day job.

And, in the late '80s, he was
offered a role that would put him

back on the map.

It's the most natural
thing in the world.

- No.
- Yes.

No.

It's a beautiful,
magical experience.

St Jerome's hospital. Ah.

- JOHN:
- Come on. Breathe deep.
Breathe deep.

Don't try to help me, just drive.

Ah.

Look Who's Talking was something
that he clearly didn't really

want to do but felt obliged to
do to make a living.

You don't even see Travolta for the
first half an hour of the film.

And, you know, when you're pipped
to the post by a co-star

who is voicing a baby, that's got to
do something for your self-esteem.

But, ironically, this role was
exactly what he needed.

It did absolutely
amazingly at the box office,

and it spawned two sequels,
so that at least gave Travolta

some financial security and allowed
him to keep flying his planes.

I don't think it got him
any of those proverbial cool points

being in this movie at all.

What it did do is prove to
studio executives that

John Travolta has been
undeniably in a successful film,

and sometimes that's just what you
need, to have that meeting,

to have that discussion,
to maybe get a better chance

at getting a better role.

It had been a decade since
Travolta-mania had swept the world.

His career had now
plummeted to rock-bottom,

but as the '90s dawned,
Travolta would find love.

Every time she looked at him,

which was most of the time, she
didn't care about anyone, anything.

And a career resurrection, the most
famous comeback in movie history.

The coolest director in town had
put him in a role

where he could be funny, and smart,
and gory, and bloody, and be edgy.

This was an amazing
opportunity for him.

In the late 1980s, Travolta's career
had hit rock-bottom.

He had starred in a series of flops.

Despite earning millions from
the Look Who's Talking franchise,

his credibility
was at an all-time low.

In 1987, John took a role in a film
called The Experts.

On set, he met someone who would
change his life.

John met an actress called
Kelly Preston on the set

of a low-budget TV movie.

Through him,
she became a Scientologist.

And this gave them, obviously,
a lot in common.

They both had a rough ride
earlier in their lives,

and this formed
a connection between them.

Kelly was just a hardcore
Scientologist.

She was in for the whole thing.

Two years later,

the pair were married in a
Scientologist ceremony in Paris.

In 1992, Travolta appeared on
the chat show Letterman,

not to promote a new film
but to introduce a new arrival.

- APPLAUSE
- Oh, look at the baby.

- And what is your son's name?
- His name is Jett.
- Jett?
- JETT.

Oh, Jett. Now, is that
because of your love of flying?

- Yes, primarily.
- Very, very sweet baby.

While Travolta had found
happiness in his personal life,

his career had stalled.

But he was about to cross paths
with a Hollywood figure

who would be his salvation.

In this 1995 interview,
he told the story.

I had heard a rumour that

Quentin Tarantino had wanted to meet
with me.

And, for an actor who had cooled off
considerably, this was good news.

Quentin Tarantino, at this point,

was the award-winning wunderkind
who had released, produced,

created this cult classic instant
super-hit, Reservoir Dogs.

Tarantino had been a John Travolta
fan for a long time, probably

one of the few people who'd seen a
lot of John Travolta's 1980s films.

Tarantino wanted to cast
Travolta in his next film.

All the big names wanted to be in
the business of Quentin Tarantino.

What would he do next?

Turns out, he'd do Pulp Fiction,
and he'd cast him off Grease?

Him off Welcome Back Kotter?
What are you thinking?

I remember thinking,
are you serious, Quentin?

This is the, I mean, I love Grease,
but this is the guy from Grease

and loads of flop movies
in the '80s.

What are you talking about?

But the film studio pushed back,
refusing to cast Travolta.

Tarantino made it a deal-breaker,

threatening to take
the project elsewhere.

It took persuading to the film
company to put

John Travolta in a movie,
because his stock was so low.

To have a kind of washed-up star
like John Travolta seems a bit odd.

And I think John Travolta
was unsure.

This is not a role you turn down.

Quentin Tarantino, at this point, is
the hottest director on the planet,

and he's hunting for you to take a
role and you go,

"Not sure, Quentin. Not sure.
I'll have a think about it."

Don't you hate that?

Hate what?

Uncomfortable silences.

John Travolta...

Travolta agreed to do the film,
taking a much-reduced fee.

The role, a hit man and heroin
addict,

was unlike anything he'd
played before.

- Die, you mother...
- GUNSHOTS

A new film,
directed by Quentin Tarantino.

I think Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction
was the most important role

John Travolta ever took,

because it transformed him from
this heart-throb

into a dark, menacing figure.

His portrayal in Pulp Fiction was

shocking, funny, disgusting,

loved it.

It wasn't John Travolta
that we knew.

And, that's why we loved it.

Travolta was given the chance to
show his comedic abilities

in scenes that mixed humour
and violence.

Marvin, what do you make of all
this?

Man, I don't even have an opinion.

Well, you've got to have an opinion.

I mean, do you think that God
came down for heaven and stopped...

After years in the wilderness,
being ignored by all of his peers

and nobody wanting to take
a meeting with him,

this was an amazing opportunity for
him.

I remember going to see the movie

in a movie theatre,

and, you know, there's that scene

where he takes his shirt off,

and the lady in the back of me said,
"Oh, John."

Like, "Oh, no. Oh, John."

I think it was a bit of a shock to
anyone that had fallen in love

with John Travolta in Grease to then
see him in Pulp Fiction,

but I think he pulled it off.
You know, he had style.

The role may have been different,

but the film made some knowing nods
to his early career.

John Travolta
and Uma Thurman are having dinner,

and there's a contest for dancing.

Now, who'll be our first
contestants?

Right here.

- Want to dance?
- No, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I do believe Marcellus,
my husband, your boss,

told you to take me out
and do whatever I wanted.

Now I want to dance, I want to win,
I want that trophy.

MUSIC: You Never Can Tell
By Chuck Berry

# It was a teenage wedding and the
old folks wished them well.... #

The dancing scene with
Uma Thurman is classic.

Without showing big moves,
without looking like a dancer,

he just looks like a guy who's
kind of, he knows how to dance,

but he's a kind of sinewy mover,
but he's giving you a flashback.

He's going, yeah, "I'm this guy too.

"Remember John Travolta?
This is John Travolta as a hit man."

It's genius, though. It's genius.

I mean, this...

Oh, please.

The film premiered in 1994,
at the Cannes Film Festival,

and won the Palme d'Or,

one of the most prestigious awards
in the industry.

Pulp Fiction.

Travolta's career was reborn.

- NEWSREADER:
- All eyes were on the
cast of Pulp Fiction,

as it was the only American film
to get an award,

but it was the top award,
the Palme d'Or for Best Picture.

I could tell by his reaction that he
thought,

"My God, is it possible that
I can have a comeback like this?"

It's also a movie which just may
change the career of Cannes'

favourite American star this year,
John Travolta.

It was perfect for him.

It was the part he needed,
in the movie he needed,

at the time he needed it.

The public are
so happy that you're back.

I'm just as thrilled as they are,
probably more.

Pulp Fiction is really one of the,

if not the greatest
comeback of all time...

John reflected on his incredible
changing fortunes in 1995.

You say that since the release of
Pulp Fiction has been the best time
of your life?

I think so, because, you see, this
opportunity that Quentin gave me...

It's almost Renaissance.

Yes, renaissance, where this film
takes off beyond anybody's belief,

then the accolades start to come in,
the kudos and so on and so forth,

and suddenly,
it just hasn't stopped.

In Tarantino, Travolta had found
someone who believed in him

as an actor.

It was the support
he'd been looking for.

Travolta ended up sort of finding
another surrogate parent.

He was the one who made him
wake up and go, look,

you cannot keep hiding away, you've
got to start saying yes to things.

John got very emotional about being
rescued by Quentin Tarantino,

having his career resurrected.

- JOHN:
- I swear to you,
I have to fight the tears,

every time I talk to this man,

because I am continually
moved by his interest, his care,

and it doesn't stop at Pulp Fiction.

That's what floors me.

Travolta's roller-coaster career
was heading skywards again.

But, despite the comeback,
self-inflicted disaster.

I don't know what anyone
involved was thinking.

And yet more tragedy lay ahead.

It was devastating.

He actually said he didn't think
he would recover.

In 1995, John Travolta was propelled
to the top of Hollywood's A-list

again, thanks to Tarantino
and a role in Pulp Fiction.

This was his comeback,
in no uncertain terms.

Everybody loves a comeback.

If anything, he came back bigger
than he was before.

And, thanks to roles in films
such as Face Off

and Primary Colours,

Travolta's stock went up,
and so did the pay cheques.

The roles that John Travolta took
after Pulp Fiction were

giving him quite a lot of money.

We're talking $3+ million.

Travolta's new-found
power in Hollywood gave him

the chance to pursue a project he'd
cared deeply about.

A film based on a book
by Scientology founder

L Ron Hubbard,
called Battlefield Earth.

For many years after
he became a success,

John Travolta wanted to bring L Ron
Hubbard material to the big screen.

He went around all these
different studios, saying,

I've got this idea, it's my passion
project, I'm on the up now.
I'm cool.

But he struggled to find a studio to
take on this film about evil aliens.

Travolta eventually secured
independent financing,

and was so keen to make it,

he invested $5 million
of his own into the film.

- JOHN:
- When we attacked your planet,
all your soldiers,

and all their advanced technology,

could only put up a measly
nine-minute fight

before they were exterminated.
Which is why...

..man is an endangered species.

Just as quickly as he had regained
his reputation in Hollywood,

Battlefield Earth
threatened to destroy it.

As soon as we knew what John
Travolta looked like,

it was going to be a flop.

Because he's an eight-foot alien
in moon boots and with dreadlocks.

They're wearing stilts.

There are terrible teeth
and eye make-up and lenses.

This handsome leading man is now
looking like some sort

of train wreck, or a zombie that's
been pulled out off the ground.

Who is responsible for allowing
this man-animal to run around
unsupervised?

I don't know what anyone
involved was thinking.

Every single frame is a little bit,
what's going on here?

Cackling...

HE CACKLES
THEY CACKLE

Evil cackling,
even more evil cackling.

THEY CACKLE

It's a joke.

The film was a failure
on all fronts,

and seriously damaged John's
credibility.

Just so unfortunate that it comes
just as his own career renaissance

was happening, because, I mean,
this is one of the worst-reviewed
films ever made.

It was just an absolute disaster.

But, in 2007, Travolta proved that
making unexpected choices

could pay off, when he returned
to his roots in a musical.

John Travolta hadn't appeared in
one since Grease,

so, what is that, 30 years later?

He thinks, "Now's the time.
I'm going to be in a musical.

"What will my role be?
I will play Edna."

- JOE:
- You must think my ears
are garbage cans.

Would you turn that racket down?

I'm trying iron here.

A woman, in the middle age of her
life, who would require her to,

sorry, him, to wear a fatsuit,
and sing, and dance.

Yet again, Travolta gave it
everything he'd got.

# You can't stop my happiness,
cos I like the way I am,

# And you just can't stop my knife
and fork

# When I see a Christmas ham. #

He did not do things by halves.

He thinks, "I'm getting back
into the musical business,

"I'm going to set the dial
to extra-hard."

# Ever since this old world began,

# A woman found out if she shook,
she could shake up a man,

# And so I'm going to shake and
shimmy the best that I can today. #

I salute him
for giving it an amazing bash.

There are sequences where
he is dancing people off the screen.

Playing Edna in Hairspray was
a really brave

and a surprising choice.

All of Travolta's successful roles
up to that point had been

very male, very masculine,
very alpha.

And here he is, successfully
and wonderfully playing a woman.

Travolta had got himself
back on track,

but, as ever, after the highs would
come the lows,

and this time it was a tragedy
that would push anyone
to the limits of despair.

- NEWSREADER:
- John Travolta's
16-year-old son has died.

Police say Jett Travolta had
a medical episode Friday

while vacationing
with his family in the Bahamas.

Jett had suffered from lifelong
health problems.

It was only after his death that we
learned that he'd been

suffering from autism,
and had been having fits frequently.

Losing a child is...

How do you cope with that?

This unthinkable tragedy was almost
too much for Travolta to bear.

Obviously it was...devastating.

He actually said he didn't think
he would recover.

He didn't think he'd even come
out of his bedroom.

In 2010, a year after Jett's death,

Travolta revealed
the pain of losing his son.

You're kind of a sinking ship,
and you need all the King's horses

and all the King's men to keep
your head afloat, and we had it.

We had it with our church,
we had it with our friends,

and we had it with the public.

I mean, they were unanimous in their
support for us in the last year.

- REPORTER:
- And you're doing OK?
- Yeah. We're, it's working.

I mean, it's been hard.

We worked every day on it
as a family, and as individuals,

and it's the worst thing that's ever
happened to me, bar none.

After Jett's death, Travolta
retreated from the limelight

to be with his wife
and two remaining children.

He contemplated retiring
from acting.

In 2016, he won praise for his
return to TV

in The People vs OJ Simpson,

playing larger-than-life lawyer
Robert Shapiro.

These 911 tapes that have been
circulating,

they've been playing day
and night on all the channels.

It's an audio recording
in which the world can hear you
beating your wife.

Bob, it was just, you know,
tussling.

- I can fix this.
- No, no, you can't.

You can't clear it up. You can't put
the genie back in the bottle.

But, two years later,

Travolta's wife Kelly was diagnosed
with breast cancer,

the same disease that had taken
the lives of both his girlfriend
Diana and his mother.

In 2020, after a long battle
with her illness,

tragedy struck once more.

Actress Kelly Preston, who passed
away after a private two-year battle
with breast cancer.

Her husband John Travolta sharing

the heartbreaking news

on Instagram, writing,

"She fought a courageous fight with
the love and support of so many."

Travolta was plunged
into unimaginable grief yet again.

He announced her death on Instagram.

It was picked up
and reported around the world.

Travolta said that he would be
taking some time off to be

with his children,
Ella and Benjamin.

There was a feeling in Hollywood
and elsewhere that,

great sympathy for him, obviously,
he has been through a lot.

John Travolta's life and career
has been one of dizzying highs.

He has had an incredible career.

John is a wonderful actor,
but he has that extra little bit.

It's the combination of the looks
he was blessed with,

the fact that, when he smiles,
a room lights up...

And devastating lows.

John's had a wonderful life,
but he's had a lot of tragedies.

It doesn't matter who you are,
the tragedy is human.

And it humbles you.

It's almost as if every important
stage of John Travolta's life

has been accompanied by the
death of someone close to him.

At times he's struggled to take
control of his career.

I would describe John Travolta's
career as a roller-coaster ride.

I think he would too.

Yeah, it's the big dipper.

Sometimes he hasn't wanted to
take the ride. I don't blame him.

But only the strongest survive.

But remains a consummate performer,

and the star of some of the most
iconic films in movie history.

John Travolta is a Hollywood icon
He's bigger than the movies.

He's bigger than the successes,
he's bigger than the failures.

John Travolta stands above all that.

To have set trends,

to have had movies that have been
that successful, and to truly

have been at one moment in time
the biggest star in the world.

Travolta is still recovering
from the latest tragedy to scar

his life, but the time may soon
be ripe for the comeback king
to return.

I want John Travolta to do
a John Travolta, and come back.

He's going to come back with
a lot of baggage.

Those bags are packed.

Now, unpack them,
for the world to see.

You can never write him off.

The setback is
the set-up for the comeback,

and reinvention is what
he's all about.

Yeah, there'll be a comeback.
And I can't wait.

I think it would be great.

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