| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Turned down the role of Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994), a decision he later admitted was a mistake. |
| 2 | John was the winner of the Juno Award for International Single of the Year for "You're the One That I Want" in 1979. |
| 3 | After starting his career on the TV show "Welcome Back, Kotter," John Travolta's film career took off in the late 1970's with starring roles in "Saturday Night Fever", which earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor in a leading role, and "Grease". Adjusted for inflation, these remain the two highest grossing films of Travolta's career. |
| 4 | 10 of John's films have grossed over $100 million in the US: Grease, Wild Hogs, Saturday Night Fever, Look Who's Talking, Hairspray, Bolt, Face/Off, Pulp Fiction, Phenomenon and General'd Daughter; 8 of these have grossed over $200 million worldwide. |
| 5 | John Travolta has had 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from 1976-1978: "Grease Lightnin" (#47), "Whenever I'm Away From You" (#38), "All Strung Out On You" (#34), "Let Her In" (#10), and "You're the One That I Want", which peaked at #1 and was on the chart for 24 weeks. |
| 6 | John Travolta was recently named one of the Most Valuable Actors of All Time, with the total gross of his films coming in at $4.3 billion. |
| 7 | John stars in three of the top 150 Greatest Movies of All Time, as listed by Empire Magazine: Blow Out (#139), Carrie (#86), Pulp Fiction (#9) [August 2015]. |
| 8 | In 2014 John received the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema. |
| 9 | Michael Jackson's song "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (1983) was originally written for Travolta but ultimately ended up as Michael's own personal recording from his 1982 "Thriller" album. Travolta would later appear as one of several celebrity cameos in Michael Jackson: Liberian Girl (1989). |
| 10 | Was offered the role of the Green Goblin in Spider-Man (2002). |
| 11 | Turned down the role of Dave Seville in Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007). |
| 12 | Travolta selected Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) as his all-time favorite film as part of an AFI poll. |
| 13 | He presented the Oscar for Best Actor at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983. The winner was Ben Kingsley for Gandhi (1982). |
| 14 | He turned down the role played by Johnny Depp in Nick of Time (1995). |
| 15 | When introducing Idina Menzel at the 2014 Academy Awards, he mistakenly pronounced her name as "Adele Dazeem". The flub has since drawn a lot of attention and ridicule (including a Twitter account for Adele Dazeem). Travolta apologized to Menzel and sent her a bouquet of flowers. |
| 16 | He auditioned to play Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), which went to Ted Neeley. |
| 17 | Has starred in films that appear in both IMDb's Top 250 and IMDb's Bottom 100. The highest of his IMDb Top 250 film is at 5th position with Pulp Fiction (1994). The lowest of his entry in IMDb's Bottom 100 is on 73th (number 27 from the bottom) with Battlefield Earth (2000). [March 2014] |
| 18 | In honor of his 60th birthday on February 18, 2014, there was a special singalong showing of Grease (1978) at the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles. Before the start of the movie a video tribute from Olivia Newton-John was played followed by a thank you video from John Travolta. |
| 19 | He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 5, 1985. |
| 20 | Speaks French fluently. |
| 21 | Was good friends with the late James Gandolfini. His father sold tires to James' father. |
| 22 | Although he is often cast as Italian-American and is of Italian descent on his father's side, he has stated that his family was invested more in his mother's Irish ancestry, and he grew up mostly around Irish culture. |
| 23 | In 1986, he was slated to co-star with Whoopi Goldberg in a buddy/action-comedy called "Public Enemies", produced by the Cannon Group. In it, he would have played a disgruntled cop who is teamed up with a reckless young rookie, played by Goldberg, to uncover the whereabouts of a notorious mob figure. Bud Yorkin was attached to direct. Even though it was heavily publicized at the Cannes Film Festival, funding fell through and the project was scrapped. |
| 24 | John and his wife, Kelly Preston, have the distinction of having both starred in movies based on Stephen King novels, where the title of each was a girl's name which began with the letter "C". John starred in Carrie (1976) and Kelly starred in Christine (1983). |
| 25 | On Inside the Actors Studio: Episode #9.13 (2003), he listed Going Places (1974) as his favorite movie. |
| 26 | Son-in-law of Peter Palzis. |
| 27 | Stepbrother-in-law of Chris Palzis. |
| 28 | Third child, a son named Benjamin, was born in a Florida hospital on November 23, 2010 at 8 lbs. 3 oz. |
| 29 | He was inducted into the 2011 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Arts and Entertainment. |
| 30 | (May 18, 2010) John and his wife, Kelly Preston, are expecting their third child. |
| 31 | Lives in Los Angeles, California and Anthony, Florida. |
| 32 | He was due to have played the lead role in The Double, an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel about a man whose life is taken over by his doppelganger. He was being paid $17m and shooting was to have started in Paris in June 1996. Just days before principal photography was due to begin, he flew back to the United States following an argument with the film's director, Roman Polanski, over alleged changes to the script and the film collapsed shortly afterwards. |
| 33 | Was married to Kelly Preston on September 5, 1991 at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris in a private ceremony. A small orchestra performed the main theme from A Man and a Woman (1966), Travolta's favourite French film. |
| 34 | Owns a vacation home on a small island in Maine's Penobscot Bay. The secluded 20-room château, surrounded by acres of pines, overlooks the ocean and comfortably accommodates up to 50 guests. He bought it because Christmas is his favorite holiday, and he wanted a place big enough to house his extended family. |
| 35 | He was offered Richard Gere's role in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), and opted to go to American Airlines' jet pilot school, instead. |
| 36 | Was considered for the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999) but Kevin Spacey, who went on to win a Best Actor Oscar for his performance, was cast instead. |
| 37 | Close friends with Dakota Fanning and Robin Williams. |
| 38 | He was offered the role of Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets (1997), which went to Jack Nicholson. |
| 39 | His publicist is Paul Bloch. |
| 40 | Jett Travolta, his 16-year-old son, died following a seizure at the family's Bahamas holiday retreat on January 2, 2009. |
| 41 | Stated that one of his favorite places is Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. |
| 42 | Has claimed his favorite director to work with was Sylvester Stallone, for Staying Alive (1983). He said Stallone knew how to make him look the best on screen. |
| 43 | Has appeared in Hairspray (2007), opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, whose debut film was Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to Grease (1978), in which Travolta appeared. |
| 44 | He also owns an Eclipse 500 twin turbofan aircraft. |
| 45 | Has been the Ambassador for Qantas since 2001. |
| 46 | Master of Ceremony at the Centennial of Flight Celebration at Kitty Hawk in December 2003, where he presented to John Glenn aviation's highest award. |
| 47 | For his acting, drew inspiration from James Cagney, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and others. |
| 48 | In 1985, Princess Diana asked him to dance at a party at the White House. |
| 49 | Friends with actor Billy Lockwood. |
| 50 | (April 2, 2007) On his return flight from Germany to New York, the actor was forced to make an emergency landing in his Boeing 707 at Ireland's Shannon Airport. He'd been promoting his new movie in Europe and encountered technical difficulties on his return flight. Fortunately for the actor, he was flying over Ireland at the time he first detected his private jet's engine problems and was safely diverted to Shannon on Ireland's west coast. Not allowing himself to be fazed by the whole ordeal, Travolta grounded his 34-seater and continued his flight home on a commercial airline. |
| 51 | Was among the guests at Tom Cruise's and Katie Holmes' wedding ceremony in Italy. |
| 52 | Is good friends with actor Forest Whitaker who appeared with him in Phenomenon (1996) and Battlefield Earth (2000). |
| 53 | Was strongly in the running to play Larry Meadows in The Last Detail (1973), only losing the role to Randy Quaid at the last minute. This would have been his big-screen debut. |
| 54 | He lost 20 pounds for his role in Saturday Night Fever (1977). |
| 55 | Owns a home in Ocala, Florida because of his wife's intense love of horses. |
| 56 | His characters make mention of an Al Pacino film in at least three of his films: Saturday Night Fever (1977), Get Shorty (1995) and Swordfish (2001). |
| 57 | On the Saturday Night Live (1975) episode, Saturday Night Live: John Travolta/Seal (1994), he parodied his Welcome Back, Kotter (1975) character Vinnie Barbarino. |
| 58 | His performance as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) is ranked #73 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). |
| 59 | Was considered for the role of Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991). The role went to Val Kilmer instead. |
| 60 | His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. John's father, Salvatore/Samuel J. Travolta, was born in New Jersey, the son of Salvatore/Samuel Travolta and Giuseppina/Josephine Marsala. John's mother was born Helen Cecilia Burke, also in New Jersey, and was the daughter of Charles Frederick Burke and Mary Ellen Murphy. |
| 61 | Got the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994) primarily because Michael Madsen, the actor for whom the role was written, was unavailable due to a prior film commitment. Vincent was the brother of Michael Madsen's character Vic Vega (aka Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs (1992)) and the role jump-started his career after a long slump. |
| 62 | Turned down several offers from the producers of Chicago (2002) to play the role of Billy Flynn. Richard Gere accepted the role and won a Golden Globe for his performance. |
| 63 | Owned a three-bedroom beach front oceanfront estate, on Oahu in Hawaii from 1986-2005. He and his wife Kelly Preston sold it to Kathy Ireland for $3 million U.S. and she plans to rent the private residence out as one of several Kathy Ireland Worldwide company vacation villas. |
| 64 | Turned down the roles: Splash (1984), Apollo 13 (1995) and Forrest Gump (1994). Tom Hanks was cast as the lead. |
| 65 | His favorite actor growing up was James Cagney. |
| 66 | Was friends with James Cagney, Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck. |
| 67 | He frequently eats at Denny's in the middle of the night. Which is where he ate through the movie Lucky Numbers (2000). |
| 68 | Best friends with Kirstie Alley. |
| 69 | Oprah Winfrey's favorite movie star. |
| 70 | During the 1970s, he frequently watched foreign films. One of his favorites was La Strada (1954). |
| 71 | His favorite movie is A Man and a Woman (1966). His favorite movie as a child was Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). |
| 72 | After the "Grease" album was released, he came out with a deluxe 2-record set called: "Travolta Fever", which was released in 1978. |
| 73 | His first released record came out in 1976 when he had a Top 20 hit single, "Let Her In". When record producers saw him in Welcome Back, Kotter (1975) singing "Barbara Anne", originally by The Beach Boys, they signed him. |
| 74 | Has published two books: "John Travolta Staying Fit!", published by Simon and Schuster in 1984, and "Propeller One-Way Night Coach, A Fable for All Ages", published by Warner Books in 1997. |
| 75 | Ranked #3 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols" (January 23, 2005 issue). |
| 76 | He was voted the 64th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. |
| 77 | In October 2004, he starred in a series of television commercials for Sky TV (meant for Italian TV). Directed by Harald Zwart, the television commercials play as a sitcom, where John Travolta - as himself - moves in with a working-class family because they have Sky. |
| 78 | While filming the movie Blow Out (1981), he suffered from insomnia, which he had since he was a child waiting up for his mother to come home from late acting jobs. He learned to play the violin to calm his nerves. |
| 79 | He has also worked as a musician and released several albums. He claims that he got all his inspiration from one song only; the instrumental song "Dreamstreet", a song by Patrick Rondat. |
| 80 | He owns (and is qualified to fly as second in command) a Boeing 707-138, appropriately registered N707JT, first built in 1964 for QANTAS of Australia. Recently he had the aircraft painted in its original QANTAS paint-job and took it on a worldwide promotional tour for QANTAS and, in return, was trained as a 747-400 first officer with Qantas. |
| 81 | Spent nine months learning how to dance to disco music while filming Saturday Night Fever (1977). |
| 82 | According to the documentary We Get to Win This Time (2002), the producers of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) considered teaming up Sylvester Stallone with John Travolta as Rambo's young partner in rescuing the American POWs. Sylvester Stallone nixed this idea when he decided it would be better to make the film a solo project. |
| 83 | Hit #106 on the Billboard Singles Charts in 1977 with "Slow Dancing (Feels So Good)" (Midland Int. 10977). |
| 84 | Owns homes in Santa Barbara, California; Ocala, Florida; Maine; and in his wife's home state of Hawaii. Main residence is in Ocala, Florida where he owns a large home, complete with airstrip for his planes. |
| 85 | Was told to gain thirty pounds for his role in the movie Primary Colors (1998). |
| 86 | Did yoga and boxing to cut his love handles for the film Swordfish (2001). |
| 87 | Was signed on to play rock star Jim Morrison in an early 1980s biopic about The Doors. Due to legal problems, the project was dropped. |
| 88 | Read for the Tom Hanks role in Splash (1984) but was discouraged by his agent from doing the film. |
| 89 | (April 3, 2000) His second child with Kelly Preston, daughter Ella Bleu Travolta was born, weighing in at 4.08 kilos (nine pounds). |
| 90 | He pilots three Gulfstream jets and a Learjet. Also owns a Boeing 707. |
| 91 | In July 1978, he became the very first male to make the cover of McCall's magazine. |
| 92 | Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28. |
| 93 | Pilots a multitude of jet aircraft. Most notable aviation feat is successful landing at Washington National of a Gulfstream IIB with complete electrical failure. Conditions at the time were night, IMC, icing. [December 1993] |
| 94 | During the filming of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), he fell in love with Diana Hyland, 18 years his senior. She died of cancer in his arms in 1977. |
| 95 | Was the youngest of six children of Salvatore Travolta and Helen Travolta. |
| 96 | Brother of Joey Travolta, Ellen Travolta, Ann Travolta, Margaret Travolta and Sam Travolta. |
| 97 | His son, Jett Travolta, was conceived during a weekend at the home of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. (source: Premiere August 1996, p.60). |
| 98 | John Travolta and Kelly Preston had a son, Jett Travolta (April 13, 1992 - January 2, 2009). |
| 99 | John Travolta married Kelly Preston twice. Their first wedding on September 5, 1991, by a French Scientologist minister, was declared illegal. The couple met during the filming of The Experts (1989). |
| 100 | Richard Gere practically owes his film career to Travolta. Travolta turned down the leads for Days of Heaven (1978), American Gigolo (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and Chicago (2002), all of which went to Gere. |
| 101 | He was named Man of the Year by Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club in 1981. |
| 102 | He appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine four times, the most for any actor (through 1994). |
| 103 | Ranked #21 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] |
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