John Travolta is an actor-singer-dancer who achieved movie stardom in the late 1970s. Handsome and charming in a boyish and cocky manner, John Travolta promised to become a major superstar until his career stalled after a string of critical and box-office duds in the mid-1980s. Still working, however, John Travolta has made an effort to grow as an actor, and a more mature major star emerged. The youngest of six children, John Travolta grew up in New Jersey, studying acting with his mother. He left school at 16 to pursue a career in the theater, working in stock, TV commercials, and eventually Broadway in Grease.
John Travolta's first film appearance was in The Devil's Rain (1975), but he became a surprise TV star that same year when he played the role of Vinnie Barbarino in the hit sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. He showed his range in the TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1975) and indicated genuine bigscreen promise in a supporting role in BRIAN DE PALMA's smash hit Carrie (1976). Producer Robert Stigwood signed the young actor to a three-picture contract, the first of which was Saturday Night Fever (1977), the film that made John Travolta an instant movie star and launched a disco craze. His acting in the film, and particularly his dancing, helped earn John Travolta an Oscar nomination as Best Actor.
His next film, Grease (1978), was an equally huge hit, and the actor's reputation as a talented musical performer was firmly established. Moment by Moment (1978), in which he costarred with Lily Tomlin, was a major bomb. He recouped, however, with Urban Cowboy (1980), a film that spawned a resurgence in all things country/western.
His films since Urban Cowboy have been lackluster, some of them popular with critics and others popular with fans but none of them popular with both. For instance, he starred in Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), a loser at the box office but generally admired by the media. Conversely, his reprise of the role of Tony Manero (from Saturday Night Fever) in Staying Alive (1983), a film directed by SYLVESTER STALLONE, brought in ticket buyers by the truckload but was roundly panned by critics. Perfect (1985) was anything but; critics booed and fans stayed away.
Critics admired his courage for tackling a difficult role in ROBERT ALTMAN's TV adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter (1987), and as the 1980s came to a close, John Travolta seemed to be entering a new phase of his career with the comedy Look Who's Talking (1989), which was followed by Look Who's Talking, Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993). QUENTIN TARANTINO's Pulp Fiction (1995) gave him a new lease on his career. Playing a hit man opposite partner SAMUEL L. JACKSON, John Travolta received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. The following year, he received another Golden Globe nomination for his role as a loan shark and film buff in Get Shorty.
In 1996 he was an archangel hoofer in Michael, but he had a darker side in some of his 1990s films: In Broken Arrow (1995) he played a psychotic villain, and in Face/Off, he was the villain to NICOLAS CAGE's good guy. The New Jerseyite went south in Primary Colors (1998), playing a southern governor who seeks the presidential nomination; the political chicanery and the sexual exploits in the film were inspired by President Bill Clinton's life. One of his best roles was as a sleazy, opportunistic lawyer who turns out to have a heart of gold, in A Civil Action (1998), but ROBERT DUVALL, who played his courtroom opponent, got the acting nominations.
John Travolta also appeared in some military movies: The Thin Red Line (1998), The General's Daughter (1995), and the awful Battlefield Earth (2000). Like JON VOIGHT, in his later years John Travolta seems to have acquired a talent for playing villains, and he has made a few bad decisions. Although John Travolta has not garnered many awards, he has demonstrated his boxoffice appeal. His films have grossed almost $2 billion, and his average gross per film is more than $50 million.
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1. Gilbert Andreson alias Broncho Billy and early Hollywood
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