World's Top Stars Join Olivia
You’ll be seeing a lot of Olivia Newton-John on Australian television in the next few weeks. The pretty star of Grease will be jetting home to Australia soon to be part of a Royal Command Performance before the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at the Sydney Opera House. The show, which also will feature other big Australian names such as Helen Reddy and Peter Allen, will be hosted by Bert Newton and televised live on the Nine Network under the direction of Peter Faiman.
The following week, the Seven Network will screen Olivia’s spectacular special Olivia Newton-John’s Hollywood Nights. But, despite the title, the show does not forget Australia. One comedy sketch is set in a Melbourne where Ted Knight, the bumbling Mary Tyler Moore newscaster, tries to get rowdy drinkers to reveal all about Olivia’s days before stardom.
It was actually filmed at a British-style pub in Los Angeles, but you’ll see some very familiar faces. But it is Hollywood this show really highlights. Hollywood means stars and there are plenty of them, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Gene Kelly, Toni Tennille, Tina Turner, Karen Carpenter and Peaches, of Peaches and Herb, all help the 60-minute special sparkle.
Cliff and Olivia premiere Suddenly, a haunting duet from her new movie Xanadu written by Australian producer, John Farrar. She steps out with the movie’s co-star Gene Kelly, in a lively song and dance tribute called Makin’ Movies the joins Elton John on a moving version of Candle In The Wind before Elton previews his new hit single Little Jeanie.
The most unusual sequence comes when Olivia’s daydreams transform her into Marlene Dietrich, Barbarella, Helen of Troy and Lady Godiva. But it is back to reality for a rousing finale of the Eagles’ hit Heartache Tonight.
Chantal Contouri’s Hollywood holiday stopped being all play once she met up with her old friend Olivia Newton-John. The TV Week Logie winning actress recently spent two months in Los Angeles looking up friends and making contacts in the movie business. She enjoyed much of that time with Olivia, a friend for 13 years.
One afternoon the ex-patriate star mentioned an Australian scene she was preparing to tape for her TV special, Olivia Newton-John’s Hollywood Nights. In the brief comedy segment, a reporter tries in vain to dig into Olivia’s early life in Melbourne by interviewing a noisy group of pub drinkers. Olivia had already agreed to play an earthy, gum-chewing waitress in the scene and thought it would be fun to have Chantal join in as a nasally barmaid. “At first I said ‘no’ because I just didn’t think it would be right,” Chantal says. Olivia said, “Yes it would, let me talk to the producer because he’s looking for genuine Australian actors. So, basically, they just gave me the script and just said ‘do it’.”
During filming the two “barmaids’’ posed for some crazy photos for Olivia’s private collection. Chantal cherished the time with her famous friend, whom she has seen only rarely in recent years. “People keep saying to me that she can’t be as sweet as she seems. but she is exactly the person she is presented as,” Chantal says.
The former Sullivans star moved into actor George Lazenby’s vacated Hollywood apartment in early March. “I didn’t come here looking for work,” she says. “I just wanted to have a holiday, make some contacts in the business and observe how they do things here.” But Chantal’s low-key visit worked out better than expected. An appearance at the Los Angeles Film Exposition to promote the movie Thirst led to invitations to some star-studded parties and introductions to some American movie industry “heavies”. Among them was Frank Capra jun, who offered Chantal a role in a movie he is planning to film in Greece.
Author Eugene Vale also hosted a cocktail party in her honor at his Hollywood home. ‘I really just came over on a visit and along the way I’ve been lucky enough to get some offers,” Chantal explains. “Being a Greek-born Australian seems very unique to people here. That’s one of the main things I’m not the typical Californian type and they keep looking for new types of people. Being established in my own country already seems to help, too.”
“People have been very complimentary, very nice, but my feet are on the ground and if anything comes out of this it will be icing on the cake.” Chantal flew from Los Angeles to New York and London, then on to the Cannes Film Festival, followed by a stop in Greece before she returns home for the, June 6 premiere of the film Touch And Go. She will probably fly back to Los Angeles later in the year, but does not ever see herself making it her home. “This is not such a bad place, but everything I love is back home and I owe everything in my career to Australia.’”