Remembering best moments of screen legend John Travolta

CAIRO – 18 February 2018:Egypt Today celebrates the birthday of famed American actor John Travolta, best known for his starring in “Pulp Fiction” and his breakout roles in “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever”.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey on 1954, Travolta came from a large family of six, dropping out of high school at the age of 16 in order to pursue his love of acting that he inherited from Mama Travolta. He got his start on a performance of "Bye Bye Birdie", and soon after decided to move to New York City and hit it big. His next stop was TV, where he starred in commercials; though once work dried, Travolta set his sights on Hollywood and Broadway, where he starred in a performance of “Grease” when he was 18.

One of his earliest acting debuts was in 1976's “

Carrie

”, which paved the way for his smash-hit success in a year later, with “Saturday Night Fever”. That was the start of a long and varied career, filled with highs and lows that ensured Travolta’s name would become widespread in every home and theater.

Here are several of his best movies:

“Saturday Night Fever” (1977)



The film that started off Travolta's career, “Saturday Night Fever” is all about dancing to escape your boring old life; 19-year-old Tony Manero (Travolta) bides his time waiting for Saturday night, the only time he can show off his wild disco moves and feel like a king. Outside of the dance floor however, Manero's got a tough life, though that's all due to change when he meets Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney) at the Disco, who teaches him a lot more than just how to dance.

“Grease”(1978)



This musical throwback to the 1950's served as a massive hit for Travolta and Hollywood, enduring as one of its most successful musicals of all time. Travolta portrays bad boy Denny, who discovers he's sharing the same high school with Sandy (Olivia Newton John), a girl he fell in love with during summer; worse still, they're part of rival groups. What's it going to take for these two love-birds to sing again?

“Urban Cowboy” (1980)



When Bud Davis (Travolta), a young cowboy from the country moves to Houston city, he finds himself a fish out of water. He does manage to strike a relationship with free-willed Sissy (Debra Winger), though his old-fashioned views on marriage conflict with her independence. When he sees her with another man, Wes (Scott Glenn), Bud finds it in himself to prove to her that he's the one for her in the upcoming bull-riding contest.

“Pulp Fiction” (1994)



Quentin Tarantino's cult masterpiece helped revive Travolta's career after a lull, once again propelling him as one of Hollywood'stop actors. Travolta stars alongside

Samuel L Jackson

, portraying hitman Vincent Vega, out to find a suitcase stolen from a mob boss. Along the way they find themselves caught up in several violent stories, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis and Tim Roth.

“Get Shorty” (1995)



Chili Palmer (Travolta) is a loan shark mobsterwho sets out to collect some gambling debt in Hollywood from low-budget film director Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). When Palmer falls in love with one of Zimm's leading ladies, he then pitches his life story as a new film idea, setting Palmer on a course to becoming a film producer; a job he discovers isn't so different from being a mobster.

“Phenomenon” (1996)



In this supernatural romantic drama, Travolta plays George, a humble mechanic in a small North Carolina town. After a mysterious incident one day, George finds himself with superhuman levels of intelligence and telekinetic abilities, though his newfound gifts only serve to push him away from the community he was once so close to, even drawing the attention of the FBI.

“Face/Off” (1997)



In this unique action flick, Travolta is FBI agent Sean Archer, who's been tracking down infamous terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), who murdered his young sons years ago. When Troy is finally captured and put into a coma, it's discovered that he's planted a biological weapon somewhere in Los Angeles. In order to find out where it is, Archer undergoes a surgical operation that switches his face with Troy's, allowing him to infiltrate the terrorists. Things get complicated when Castor wakes up and wreaks havoc in Archer's life by assuming his identity as well.

“Primary Colors” (1998)



This political satire follows the mishaps of Jack Stanton (Travolta) as he runs for President of the United States. Based on the real-life of Bill Clinton, the film is told through the eyes of Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), who joins the Stanton's Presidential campaignand discovers just how flawed the man really is.

“Hairspray” (2007)



Travolta finally returns to the musical genre that made him so big in the first place; this time, he's playing a woman. Travolta portrays Edna Turnblad, the mother of plump teen Tracy (Nikki Blonsky), who decides to follow her dreams and get on the Corny Collins Show, wowing 1962 Baltimore with her dance moves.