Stockard Channing finds Grease ‘vulgar’

Stockard Channing has only watched Grease a handful of times as she finds it “quite vulgar”.
The American actress is most famous for her role as feisty high school student Betty Rizzo in the 1978 musical hit, which also starred the likes of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
While it’s gone down as a classic with fans, Stockard explained during The Economist asks podcast that she’s only tuned in to the movie “maybe twice, maybe three times”, and she’s still not completely convinced about the way particular scenarios were handled, notably her alter ego’s pregnancy scare.
“It’s quite vulgar,” she said of the film. “The last time I went to see it I was sort of stunned. I said, ‘Wow, a lot of this is in really bad taste.’
“But I’m kind of happy about that and I was left very touched by it because I was glad that that woman aged 17 or 18 didn’t get pregnant, that’s all I can now think of. You know it wouldn’t have been a pretty picture if she had.”
The 73-year-old star can currently be seen on the stage in London’s West End performing in stage play Apologia, about a chaotic family reunion with disastrous consequences.
She’s made a name for herself on the small screen over the years too, with stints in The West Wing and The Good Wife, and she’s thrilled to have landed such empowering roles, especially as so many women struggle to in this day and age.
“I think it must be very difficult for a young woman to be an actor at this point,” Stockard added. “The bottom line is people have to write the stories and have to have the deals made. You can campaign all you like but until somebody makes a lot of money it’s kind of a theoretical battle.”