There are worse things she could do!

Stockard Channing booked Grease because she needed ‘a job for the summer’: ‘Let’s be the world’s oldest living teenager’

There are worse things she could do!

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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July 15, 2026 10:00 a.m. ET

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Stockard Channing in ‘Grease'. Credit:

- Stockard Channing is sharing why she took on the role of Rizzo in *Grease*.

- The actress revealed that she booked the role because “the mortgage was whispering in my ear.”

- “I’m not making that up. It’s absolutely true. So I thought, ‘Okay, let’s go for it. Let’s be the world’s oldest living teenager,’” she said.

Tell us more, tell us more! Stockard Channing is sharing the unique reason why she booked her now-iconic *Grease* role.

The actress, who starred as Betty Rizzo in the 1978 film, revealed on a recent episode of the U.K. program *Lorraine* that she had no idea the movie musical would go on to become a classic.

“I was lucky to get a job for the summer, to put it that way,” Channing explained. “The mortgage was whispering in my ear.”

Stockard Channing in ‘Grease’.

When host Lorraine Kelly expressed her surprise over the actress’ confession, Channing added, “I’m not making that up. It’s absolutely true. So I thought, ‘Okay, let’s go for it. Let’s be the world’s oldest living teenager.’”

Channing was 33 years old when she played Rizzo, the unapologetic Pink Ladies leader who experiences a pregnancy scare with her partner Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) during their senior year.

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She wasn’t the only person who was older than the high schooler she was cast to portray, either. The rest of the ensemble — including John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John — were all in their early 20s to mid-30s during filming.

When Kelly acknowledged that the cast looked “slightly older” than traditional high school students, Channing pointed out that the clothes she was given for the role didn’t exactly help, either.

“I would have to wear black all the time,” she recalled of Rizzo’s cool girl wardrobe. “I was like, ‘Couldn’t I just have a Peter Pan collar?’”

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The actress also addressed if there are any plans in place for the film’s upcoming 50th anniversary in 2028. “I have no idea,” Channing confessed. “I’ve got *Practical Magic 2*! Who knew!”

It’s true! Channing and her costar Dianne Wiest will reprise their roles as Aunt Franny and Aunt Jet, respectively, in the upcoming sequel, which is set to be released on Sept. 11, 2026.

Channing isn’t the only *Grease* star looking back at their time at Rydell High. Didi Conn, who played everyone’s favorite beauty school dropout Frenchy, recently revealed just how (hopelessly) devoted the entire cast was to playing their high school roles.

“Our relationship to each other began to form and it was great... and it gave us the license to be these crazy high school kids and having fun and being horny or whatever,” she told PEOPLE. “We just had a wonderful time.”

Watch Channing discuss *Grease* in the clip above.

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