BRIGHT STAR TO THE END

She'll always be remembered as Sandy from Grease but it's her 30-year cancer battle that the late Olivia Newton-John regarded as her greatest achievement

- NASIFA SULAIMAN

TO HER fans she'll always be Sandra Dee, the wholesome girl with the sparkly blue eyes who sang her heart out and danced up a storm with John Travolta in Grease.

Her role in the 1978 hit movie musical turned Olivia Newton-John into one of the biggest stars of the '70s, leaving generations of fans hopelessly devoted to her.

But for Olivia (73) it was the 30 years she spent living with cancer that she regarded as her greatest achievement.

"I don't know what I'd be without it now," she said in a 2020 interview with British newspaper The Guardian. "I see it as my life's journey. It gave me purpose and intention and taught me a lot about compassion. It's been a gift.

Right to the end, Olivia refused to let the disease get her down. One of her final posts on Instagram showed her beaming while standing in front of sunflowers in her garden.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" her niece Tottie Goldsmith asked her in her final days as she lay in bed at her ranch near Santa Barbara in California surrounded by loved ones.

"I'm not afraid," Olivia answered. "I've done more in my life than I could've ever imagined.

As news broke of her death, her Grease co-star was one of the first to pay tribute to her. "My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better," John wrote in an emotional post on Instagram. "Your impact was incredible. I love you so much."

A STAR IS BORN

Although the Brits claim Olivia as their own because she was born in Cambridge, England, she actually spent most of her childhood in Australia - her family emigrated to Melbourne when she was six.

At the tender age of 14 she formed an all-girl band with three classmates and performed at coffee shops. Soon she became a regular on local Australian TV shows and in 1964 won a talent contest on the show Sing, Sing, Sing.