Travolta - Pulp (non)Fiction

John Travolta turned 50 in February, so it goes without saying that he's moving into a period of nostalgia, which means an autobiography.

Sep 23 2004

John Travolta turned 50 in February, so it goes without saying that he's moving into a period of nostalgia, which of course means an autobiography.

Travolta first shot to fame in 1977 playing the ultra-cool disco king Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, which he followed up with the musical Grease in 1978. But then there was a long, long... long dive in his filmic career before he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which put him right back up there in the 'coolest actor' stakes that was his domain in the '70s.

But it's actually the slump that is the most intriguing part of his life - the other bits are already pretty well documented. Exactly what did he get up to between 1978 and 1994? Well for a start there was Look Who's Talking, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now. Other points of interest are: in 1985 he famously danced with Princess Diana at the Whitehouse, he is one of many film celebs, including Tom Cruise, to have a 'relationship' with Scientology (a religion which its leader Ron Hubbard claims aims towards 'A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology'), and in 1991, he made another important relationship official when he married Kelly Preston. Though apparently their first marriage, in Paris, turned out not to be that official (or legal) after all, so they had to wed again in Florida.

Travolta can be seen in The Punisher at cinemas across the UK from September Friday 24. Other films this year include A Love Song for Bobby Long, which also stars Scarlett Johansson, and Ladder 49, in which he plays a fireman.