Olivia Newton-John, star of Grease, dies aged 73

Olivia Newton-John, the musical star who found enduring fame for her leading role in the film Grease, has died aged 73. The news was confirmed by her husband.

A cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

After her first cancer diagnosis, Newton-John became a prominent campaigner, setting up the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Research Centre in Melbourne. Her prominence as an activist for research and better treatment will likely remain as key an element of her legacy as her showbiz career, which included four Grammy wins and the sale of more than 100m records.

But it was Grease, the perky 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical for which she will be most fondly remembered. Offered the lead role of Sandy, sweet summer squeeze of cool cat John Travolta, after meeting the producer at a dinner party, the then 29-year-old Newton-John had to be persuaded to take the part, worried she was too old to play a high-school senior. The role was also altered to accommodate her Australian accent.

The film remains a much-loved staple of the small screen and the singalong circuit; its soundtrack is one of the top 10 biggest sellers of all time.

Born in Cambridge, England, in 1948, Newton-John and her family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, when she was six. Yet she remained proud of her roots: her father was an MI5 officer who worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park during the war; her maternal grandfather was the Nobel prize-winning physicist Max Born, who sought exile in the UK from Nazi Germany on the eve of the second world war.

A number of musical comebacks met with varying levels of success over the last four decades, which were also spent battling illness, raising a daughter, Chloe, and campaigning in the fields of health, the environment and animal rights.

Newton-John is survived by her husband, John Easterling, founder of natural remedy firm Amazon Herb Company, and her daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi.