Stockard Channing , 73, Looks Back on Nearly 40 Years Since Grease: 'I Am the World's Oldest Living Teenager'
“I am the world’s oldest living teenager!” — Stockard Channing, reflecting on her hit film Grease, on the U.K. show Lorraine
Peachy keen, jelly bean.
It’s been nearly 40 years since the iconic musical Grease (1978) hit theaters, but for Stockard Channing, it feels like no time has passed at all.
“I am the world’s oldest living teenager!” Channing, who played rebellious Pink Lady Betty Rizzo in the film, said during an interview on a U.K. morning talk show Tuesday.
But despite Grease‘s enduring legacy, Channing, 73, says she’s only seen the film twice.
“I saw it when it first opened and then there was a 20th anniversary and I went with a friend of mine and her little girl,” she recalled. “Her little girl at the time was about four and she was sitting there between us. She looked at the screen and she looked at me and couldn’t understand how I could be in two places at once.”
Since Grease, Channing has gone on to star in several Broadway plays and won an Emmy for her work in Aaron Sorkin’s beloved political show, The West Wing.
Still, Channing said fans remember her best for her role as Rizzo.
“It’s a little daunting when you come out of the theatre and people are shoving photos in your face,” the 13-time Emmy Award nominee and seven-time Tony Award nominee said. “It’s like yes, that’s great, but it was such a long time ago.”
