John Travolta: Playboy Interview

As John Travolta saunters through the clubhouse of the Mountain Gate Country Club near Brentwood, California, there's no mistaking his star wattage. Celebrities are as common as sunny days in southern California, and, with few exceptions, barely warrant a turned head. But no one in the snack shop even pretends not to notice Travolta. "Tom Cruise has no idea of the kind of stardom John Travolta has experienced most of his life," says Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino.

Dressed head-to-heel in black, he joins his foursome at a table. He's been shooting action sequences for Broken Arrow at night and losing a lot of sleep in the process. His hair stands in a variety of tufts and cowlicks, and the famous cleft chin is covered by two days' stubble. When a member of his group asks him about a rumor that he's been offered $10 million for his next picture, Travolta lowers his head as if embarrassed, his voice dropping to a whisper. "My son," he says, "is going to be really rich someday."

There's talk in Hollywood these days that Travolta will be nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Get Shorty as the confident and charming Chili Palmer, a small-time Miami hood who becomes enamored with the possibilities of a second career in the movie business. Based on the Elmore Leonard novel, the movie is a comic fable about the promise Hollywood holds for anyone who dreams of reinventing themselves. No one personifies' that theme more than Travolta, who in 1994 returned from professional oblivion in the surprise hit Pulp Fiction. In one year he rose from playing second banana to a pair of talking dogs in Look Who's Talking Now to an Academy Award nomination.

This month Travolta will redirect his career again with the release of the action thriller Broken Arrow,directed by Hong Kong legend John Woo. Co-starring with Christian Slater and ex-football star Howie Long, this time out Travolta gets to play the heavy—an Air Force major and stealth bomber pilot gone bad, who steals nuclear warheads in an extortion plot against his own government.

It's another unpredictable turn in the career of Travolta, who was born 42 years ago in Englewood, New Jersey, the youngest of six children, several of whom also entered show business. (His sister Ellen appeared on the long-running TV comedy Charles in Charge.) He recalls his childhood as a profoundly happy time, and the closeness of his large family has remained the cornerstone of his adult life. His mother, Helen, was an actress and drama teacher who encouraged her son's interest in the performing arts. Salvatore, his father, a semi-pro football player and co-owner of a tire store, built a miniature stage in their basement, where the children could put on their own shows. With his parents' blessing, Travolta dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career in New York City. Although he was initially satisfied to find work in summer theater, off-Broadway productions and commercials, his manager, Bob LeMond, believed Travolta was destined for greater things on the West Coast. Between stints in the road company of Grease and the Broadway musical Over Here, Travolta went to Hollywood, where he landed numerous guest roles on prime-time dramas. He graduated to teen-idol status as Vinnie Barbarino on the hit comedy series Welcome Back, Kotter. Twenty years later, the Seventies sitcom is still running in syndication.

During the filming of a TV movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Travolta, then 22, became passionately involved with Diana Hyland, the 40-year-old actress who played his mother. They were together a year, until she became ill with cancer. She died in his arms in 1977. Their relationship, and the circumstances of her death, became a favorite topic for the tabloids. As a result, the usually personable star became wary of all press and progressively withdrew from the public eye.

Travolta's career as a film actor can be divided into three stages. After a supporting role in the teen thriller Carrie, his rise came in a series of signature films from 1976 to 1980. As Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, Travolta became a central figure of the disco era, and earned an Oscar nomination for his convincing blend of teen angst, raw sexuality and compelling dance routines. From there, he moved to light musical comedy in Grease, a relatively uninspired adaptation of the Broadway hit that became the phenomenally successful Hollywood musical. Travolta's roll continued as the hugely successful Urban Cowboy ushered America from disco to country.

But with the success came pain in his personal life. Two years after Hyland's death, Travolta's mother passed away from cancer. He relocated to an isolated ranch north of Santa Barbara, California, where he indulged his enthusiasm for exotic cars and aircraft; he studied French, flying and art history, took violin lessons and traveled the world.

The second stage of his career was a case of overnight failure. Between Urban Cowboy and Pulp Fiction he made 12 pictures, all duds, the biggest hit being Staying Alive, the critically hammered sequel to Saturday Night Fever directed by Sylvester Stallone. Almost as depressing as the bombs were the missed opportunities—movies he was offered but turned down, such as American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman, Prince of the City, Arthur and Splash.

He sold his California ranch and moved to Spruce Creek, Florida, a 'fly-in" development—luxury homes built around a private airfield near Daytona Beach. He fell in love again, this time with actress Kelly Preston, his co-star from The Experts. They were married in Paris, by a Scientology minister in a private ceremony in 1991, and have a three-year-old son, Jett.

The only career bright spot was the popular success of the lowbrow romantic comedy Look Who's Talking and its progressively less-charming sequels. Travolta has a piece of the profits in the modestly budgeted trilogy, and his share has reached into the millions of dollars. But the promise of his early years seemed broken. In the view of a new generation of Hollywood executives, the actor once ordained by New Yorker critic Pauline Kael as the next Brando was now on a par with John Ritter and Steve Guttenberg.

Then came stage three, from Pulp Fiction to the present. As Travolta says, "One movie can make you, and one movie can remake you." Capitalizing on his comeback, he worked nonstop for 15 months, completing four films in that period: Get Shorty, White Man's Burden, Broken Arrow and the upcoming fantasy Phenomenon. Additionally, he's committed to Lady Takes an Ace (with Sharon Stone) and a political thriller, Dark Horse. According to published reports, his combined salaries for these pictures exceed $40 million. Spurred by the runaway success of Get Shorty, his asking price for the Nora Ephron comedy Michael has escalated to $21 million.

In a more obscure if telling measure of Travolta's resurgence, film critic Gene Siskel, who, in March 1978, purchased the white suit the actor wore in Saturday Night Fever for $2000 at a charity auction, sold the suit last summer for $145,500—about the same amount Travolta was paid to appear in Pulp Fiction.

We sent freelancer Judson Klinger, who interviewed Travolta for us in December 1978, to find out if stardom is sweeter the second time around. Here's Klinger's report:

"When I arrived at the set of Broken Arrow on the Fox lot, I hadn't laid eyes on Travolta in more than 10 years, and the sight of the bulked-up actor in military hair and fatigues took some getting used to. But as anyone who's been around John for more than five minutes will tell you, there isn't a nicer human being in Hollywood. He's a better person than he is a player. And in that sense, he's the same friendly, charming guy I met in the Seventies.

"Back in those days, he used his sizable charm as a defense mechanism, masking the fact that he was a bit overwhelmed by the circumstances of his life, both good and bad. This time around, despite an intense work schedule, he was always relaxed—an expansive storyteller brimming with confidence, who frequently displayed a self-deprecating sense of humor. These qualities have been exhibited in his recent performances.

"Our opening sessions took place during the production of Broken Arrow, in his trailer and at various locations around Los Angeles. We wrapped up the interview during a weekend at his vacation home on a small island in Maine's Penobscot Bay. The secluded 20-room chateau, surrounded by acres of pines, over-looks 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. When time allows, he loves to decorate the place for the season; two years ago, he put a Christmas tree in every bedroom.

"The importance of family is his favorite topic, and in Maine he can downshift and become a doting dad and husband. He seems to enjoy nothing better than cracking a plate of lobster for dinner, followed by good conversation and a fine Cuban cigar. He smokes them, he says, not because it's become fashionable in Hollywood circles to do so, but because they remind him of his father."