(narrator) In the 1970s, John Travolta was Hollywood's prince of cool.

Hip-swiveling heart throb, star of '70s hits, Saturday Night Fever.

(Ali) When he commanded that light up dancefloor John Travolta was very, very cool.

-And Grease.

-With the hips, the swagger with the wobble in his voice.

I mean, he really is a rock and roll king.

(narrator) He saw a meteoric rise to fame and the world was at his dancing feet.

(Anna) People were screaming, pushing, when he came out of the car -they were pulling his hair.

-On the back of Grease -the world was his oyster.

-But for every -stratospheric high... -Everybody wanted to be -John Travolta, everybody.

-...came a devastating low.

He actually said he didn't think he would recover.

He didn't think he'd even come out of his bedroom.

(narrator) And as he fell out of fashion, a career in free fall... (James) Four or five years to go from being the biggest movie star on the planet to being someone that no one wants to hire.

(narrator) ...threatens to wipe him off the map.

(Ali) Do you want him in your movie?

Is he going to make you money?

No, not really.

(narrator) In this program, we reveal how Travolta has survived the rollercoaster of his career and a personal life ravaged by tragedy to return triumphant, -the king of the comeback.

-That is the greatest comeback -of all time.

-With incredible access to those close to him, his dance coach.

(Deney) He knew from the very beginning that the music and the dance -were the movie.

-His costars.

(Lawrence) The entire place converged on us, and we were like oh my god, it would out of body.

-His director.

-He would call me late at night to ask me about which take I printed.

-And his close friend.

-It was in those moments that I think he was lonely even with people around.

(narrator) This is the story of a man whose every success came alongside relentless personal heartache and of the survival against the odds of a living Hollywood legend.

(Stayin' Alive plays) It's December 1977 and the world has caught Saturday Night Fever.

In the opening sequence of the film, John Travolta struts his way onto the big screen.

(David) That opening scene starts with shoes and it's fine.

There's a guy who's got a little strut going on and the camera pans up and it gets to his face and you just think "Who is this guy?"

-You are already riveted.

-He's got this swagger, he's got this red collar, there's the leather jacket, -his shoes are perfect.

-It's like an arrival.

It's not an entrance it's an arrival.

(narrator) The film launched Travolta into global stardom and won him an Oscar nomination, but behind this smoldering performance he was in the throes of grief.

During the filming of Saturday Night Fever, his girlfriend died in his arms.

(Wensley) And then he had to fly back to New York and go onto the set of Saturday Night Fever almost as if nothing had happened.

(narrator) Travolta was 23, the world was at his feet, yet this devastating tragedy was the first of a series of heartbreaking losses that would scar his life.

For every dizzying career high, there would come a crushing personal low.

How did he survive this rollercoaster of success and tragedy?

Let's rewind to the very beginning.

(announcer) Across the Hudson River from New York City is the city of Englewood.

Attractive suburban homes with their neat lawns.

(narrator) John Joseph Travolta was born in 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey.

(Kathryn) He had an Irish-Italian background.

He grew up kind of like a regular kid.

His father was a semi-professional football player, but his father also ended up having a tire store.

(narrator) His mother, Helen, had been an actress.

(Joel) She was the big influence on their family.

She taught theater, she taught dancing, and she brought the culture into the Travolta house.

(lively music) (Kate) Not only his mother was a great influence but his sisters and his brothers as well.

But, you know, they were performers.

They would do plays, they would sing, they would dance.

-It was a fun dynamic.

-Travolta was the youngest -of six.

-He was the runt of the liter.

-He was always taken care of.

-He was a vulnerable, sensitive person and so you just wanted to, you know, hug him... (laughs) ...and take care of him, make sure he was okay.

(narrator) His childhood gave him a love of acting.

He also developed a passion for flying.

(Wensley) The house that he was brought up in in New Jersey was actually under the flight path of the local airport and he loved going out into the backyard and look up at those jets thundering by overhead.

He would wonder who was on those planes, what they were eating, what they were doing, where they were sitting.

I think John's love affair with flying kind of came out of that.

(bright music) (narrator) After leaving school at 16, Travolta went to New York to pursue his acting ambitions.

A year later, he secured a meeting with casting direct -Joel Thurm.

-Part of my job was just to meet people.

I mean, you could meet five people a day but there's one person who's going to stand out.

John came into the room full of everything.

He was intelligent, he was gorgeous, he had a sense of humor, he was polite.

I mean, all the things that you want.

(narrator) His big screen debut came in 1975 in a low budget, low quality horror called The Devil's Rain.

(movie narrator) There's never been anything like...

The Devil's Rain.

(narrator) Travolta's character only had a couple of lines.

The plot made very little sense.

On set in Mexico, he was disillusioned.

(Wensley) On Devil's Rain John found himself isolated, a long way from home, a bit miserable.

This wasn't a glamorous film shoot.

(narrator) But there was one familiar face, Joan Prather, who he had met on Broadway.

She was a Scientologist.

This reunion would lead to a life-changing experience.

(Wensley) Joan Prather performed a process on John in order to get him into the Church of Scientology.

John described it as being outside his own body.

It became a spiritual experience for him.

(narrator) For Travolta, whose self-confidence was low, it was an introduction that had a huge impact.

(Tony) I think most people know that Scientology, when they come to you and say, "We have all the answers in life," realize that that can't be true.

But, you know, for somebody likely Travolta, at that point in his life, it was something he'd like to hear.

(narrator) Now living in California, Travolta started attending the LA Scientology Celebrity Center, where he experienced what seemed to be the power of scientology.

(Tony) I've talked to a woman who was his core supervisor there.

And one day, he told her that he had an audition for a new television series.

So she had everybody in the class stand up, face towards the studio where the audition was going to happen, and do in scientology what they call a postulate.

They all focus their thoughts on that studio hoping for a good result for John.

And she said sure enough a couple weeks later he came back to the course and told them that he had landed the role on this new show about some high school kids in New York.

(narrator) That show was Welcome Back, Kotter, and it brought John Travolta into the living rooms of America.

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was Travolta's costar.

(Lawrence) I played Freddy Boom-Boom Washington who was the cool brother, and John Travolta played Barbarino who was supposed to be the suave Italian stallion.

Was instant explosion, people went crazy for it.

He was getting more fan mail than the rest of the cast combined.

John Travolta was the face -on every girl's bedroom wall.

-We decided to go to get something to eat and the entire place converged on us, and we were like oh my god.

-It was out of body.

-Thousands of fans would show up when he would do a signing.

I remember one he did in Chicago and they expected a few hundred people and ten thousand people showed up.

(narrator) In less than a year, Travolta had become a household name and a teen idol, he drew attention wherever he went.

(Kate) We went to Disneyland, this was pretty early on, and it was a time when he was being, you know, recognized a lot and so John had on a disguise.

He had on a funny nose and glasses and hat.

And we were around and it was working, nobody was recognizing him.

And as the day wore on, little bits and pieces of the disguise started to come off.

You know, first the glasses and then the mustache and then of course, people started to recognize him.

(Joel) Things happened over those few months incredibly fast.

He went from being unknown to being someone who had to disguise himself to walk in the street.

(narrator) As Travolta's rise continued, it seemed his personal life was also falling into place.

On the set of a TV film called The Boy In The Plastic Bubble, he met fellow actor Diana Highland.

She was 18 years older than him.

For Travolta, this relationship offered something familiar.

(Joel) Family is very important to John.

Diana was the complete package.

She also came with a child and John became sort of like a father figure to that boy.

(narrator) Travolta's seemingly unstoppable ascent would continue.

And a year later, he would get his big Hollywood break in the disco hit Saturday Night Fever.

(Deney) Everybody wanted to be John Travolta.

Everybody.

(narrator) But in a cruel twist of fate, a tragic loss would leave him devastated just as he reached new career heights.

(James) None of this was in the script, those were real tears because of how he was feeling at the time.

♪ (narrator) In 1977, John Travolta was living the life he dreamed of since childhood.

He was star of the TV series that had made him a household name.

And his success was about to step up a gear.

He landed a three-picture deal with a major Hollywood producer.

(James) People saw the success that he had with Welcome Back, Kotter, and it was obvious that producers were going to go, "Hang on, here's something special."

(narrator) The first film to be made about the New York disco scene would propel Travolta to new heights.

(Stayin' Alive plays) (vocalist) ♪ Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk ♪ ♪ I'm a woman's man, no time to talk ♪ ♪ Music loud and women warm ♪ ♪ I've been kicked around...♪ (John) Would you watch the hair?

Dancing, it can't last forever.

It's a short lived kind of thing.

♪ Do you know how many times somebody told me I was good in my life?

Two.

Two, twice.

(vocalist) ♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪ ♪ ♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪ ♪ ♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪ -He's very good.

-He's the best.

Hey man, he's great, he's great.

♪ (narrator) Keen to give it his all, Travolta started training for the role while still shooting the TV show, -Welcome Back, Kotter.

-He was beyond excited, nervous, crazy, you know, "Wow, this, you know, I can't believe this is happening.

You know, I want to do my best."

The afternoon after Welcome Back, Kotter, he would go jogging and take me with him so we would jog around Hollywood High school all the time and then he would go off and do rehearsals where he would work with Deney Terrio.

(narrator) Deney Terrio was a competitive dancer and real life king of disco.

He got the job of coaching Travolta.

(Deney) I had been winning all the dance contests in California, singles, couples and that's how I made my living.

So they hired me to train John how to do that form of dance.

(narrator) Determined to give it his best shot Travolta threw himself into a grueling five months -of dance training.

-When I first got the job, I was like, this might be difficult.

I sat him down and I said, "This is what I want to teach you."

And I put my music on and I started doing the knee drops and the splits and the Russian leap and the point.

And he just looked at me and said, "Oh, I gotta learn that."

(narrator) John's absolute dedication to preparing for the role would become a hallmark of his career.

There was no stopping him.

He knew, I think, from the very beginning that the music and the dance were the movie.

(narrator) Five months with Deney had paid off and Travolta was ready to start filming on location in New York.

(Ali) When he commanded that light up dancefloor, John Travolta was very, very cool.

And there's an emoji out of the point that John did in Saturday Night Fever.

Are we talking staying power or what!

(solemn music) ♪ (narrator) But as Travolta was filming the movie that would make his name, his personal life was in crisis.

His girlfriend Diana had been diagnosed with cancer.

She absolutely loved him, you know, and he worshiped her.

-He looked up to her.

-He had to go from being a caring partner to someone who's dying of cancer to being a cocky, streetwise, disco boy in Saturday Night Fever.

(narrator) John spent every spare moment away from set with Diana until March 1977.

(Wensley) She actually died in his arms and then he had to get back on the airplane, fly back to New York, and go onto the set of Saturday Night Fever almost as if nothing had happened.

It was... awful, it was awful.

The highs of highs and the lows of lows, you know.

♪ (narrator) Devastated by this tragic loss but contractually obliged to keep filming, -Travolta returned to set.

-He was in a very, very tender state, he was described as a zombie by his director.

That was obviously a broken man.

He was obviously incredibly hurt by it and, uh, in mourning, but he still had to make the movie.

(narrator) Travolta's moving performance in Saturday Night Fever -won him worldwide acclaim.

-John Travolta went on to win an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Saturday Night Fever, and I believe that's not just because he can dance very well.

He really displayed a level of vulnerability and humanity -in this role.

-There was no other actor who could've played that role and carried it off like John Travolta did, none.

-It's Travolta's movie.

-Everybody wanted to be -John Travolta, everybody.

-And it just catapulted him into a new level, now he was a movie star.

(narrator) At the age of only 23, Travolta had already experienced incredible success and heartbreaking tragedy.

There was something about John that made you -want to protect him.

-Kate Edwards and her mother worked with John in the 1970s and they became close, personal friends.

(Kate) I think we all adopted one another.

It was a sort of a distant instant kind of connection with me and my mom and my grandma, just our whole family, I think it was a normalcy maybe.

We became like family, he was like my brother.

You know, it was really, it was great.

(narrator) As Travolta's fame skyrocketed, he created a circle -of those he trusted.

-I think because of the fame and everybody wanting bits and pieces of him, it became harder to trust people and people's motives.

So the people that tended to be sort of his extended family were people that had known him before.

-That was the safe haven.

-And despite the lack of privacy that came with fame, Travolta still found ways to let his hair down.

(Kate) He would come to our house unannounced at night knocking on the door, "Come on, you guys, let's go to Palm Springs."

And he'd have a wad of money and a toothbrush in a brown paper bag, and we'd get in the car, my mom, my grandma, and I and the dogs, and go to Palm Springs and spend the weekend.

There was so much fun and so much laughter.

And that's, I think, how John coped.

(narrator) In 1977, Travolta, deep in mourning for his girlfriend Diana, embarked on the filming of his next movie.

(movie narrator) John Travolta, Olivia Newtown John.

Grease.

John Travolta, the sensational star of Saturday Night Fever -ignites the screen.

-John plays Danny Zuko, who is the coolest guy in school.

Everyone looks up to him, everyone thinks he's amazing, leader of the gang the T-Birds.

The girls love him, the guys want to be him.

He's oozing sex appeal but he's also vulnerable -and he's trying to impress.

-This role wasn't -entirely new to him.

-John Travolta had previously been in a stage production of this show and he played Doody, one of the lesser characters, and now he got the chance to be Danny Zuko and that's the role you want.

(Danny) ♪ We made out under the dock ♪ (Sandy) ♪ We stayed up til...♪ (Joel) I think Summer Nights is one of the best movie songs ever.

And that was like one of the first things we shot.

I mean, but everything he did in the movie was good, everything.

He's really got swagger, he's really got style.

(narrator) Despite his slick performance, Travolta was anxious and was having trouble sleeping.

(Randal) He wanted to make sure that anything he did was really, really as good as it could be.

He was a perfectionist, I'd say.

To the extend that he would call me late at night to ask me about which take I printed and to discuss the next day's work.

And I didn't have insomnia, so it was a bit annoying.

I think he could tell that I was very sleepy and, uh, he finally got the message -not to call me late at night.

-Travolta was filming Grease only 12 weeks after the tragic death of his girlfriend Diana Highland.

As a way of coping, he had thrown himself into work.

(Randal) There wasn't enough room in his head to mourn or grieve during the shooting of Grease, there was just so much going on and rehearsing the dance numbers, doing the singing tracks, and then practicing that and, you know, there was no way to just sit around and worry.

(Danny) ♪ Go, greased lightning, you're burning up the quarter mile ♪ (narrator) Travolta delivered hit after hit.

John's quintessential performance in Grease -was Greased Lightening.

-♪ Go, greased lightning ♪ ♪ You're coasting through the heat lap trials ♪ It's raunchy, it's masculine, it's funny, it has great beat, you can dance to it.

It's a wonderful performance.

(narrator) Grease was released a mere six months after Saturday Night Fever and was another huge hit.

(James) As a teen star, it made him bigger than ever, because this was a more child/teen friendly movie than Saturday Night Fever.

So Grease was even bigger than Saturday Night Fever at the box office because it was just available to more people.

(narrator) This PG-rated film premiered in London in June 1978.

Travolta was unprepared for the fans' enthusiasm.

(Randal) When we went to England and had the premiere there in Leicester Square, by that time he was a gigantic star.

Probably the biggest star in the world at that moment and there was a mob scene outside Lester Square where we were in cars kind of pulling up and the crowd was rocking the cars back and forth.

(Anna) People were screaming, pushing.

When he came out of the car, they were pulling his hair.

(shrieking) (Randal) And when we got out of it, we had to push our way through, the crowd was pushing them around like that and people were trying to grab John's hair and his clothes.

(electronic music) (shrieking) And when we got into the lobby he was just shaking -because it was so scary.

-Travolta now had two huge global hits under his belt.

(James) He was certainly in a position after the success of Grease where he just seemed untouchable, -where he could do no wrong.

-On the back of Grease, the world was his oyster, it's as though all of Hollywood was at his feet, he could, at that moment in time, -have done anything.

-I'm on top of the world -what could go wrong.

-But once again, stratospheric success would coincide with devastating tragedy.

When Travolta took his mother to the Oscars in 1978, he knew she was ill but she was keeping a secret.

(Wensley) Helen was incredibly protective towards him.

Even when she went to the Oscar ceremony with John following his success in Saturday Night Fever, she didn't tell him she had cancer.

She knew what he had been through with the death of Diana Highland only 18 months earlier and she wanted to protect him.

It was always her priority was to protect John.

♪ (narrator) Eight months later, Helen Travolta died.

(Kate) I think he was... pleased that his mother got to see that he was nominated for an Oscar, but the huge holes in his heart, you know, how do you fix that?

I have a picture of him, um, I think we were in the Grand Canyon and he was just sitting on a rock, I knew who he was missing.

It was in those moments that I think he was lonely.

You know, even with people around, he was--there was a lonely part inside.

All of the outside success doesn't fill up that inner emptiness no matter how big the success is.

(narrator) Travolta was devastated by these losses.

After a stellar start to his career, all eyes were on his next move.

Travolta accepted another lead role but got cold feet.

(Joel) He basically quit, they were willing to shut down and wait for him, but he just pulled out of it.

(narrator) And as a new decade dawned, his rollercoaster career would plummet to an all-time low.

(James) The bubble had to burst because he just couldn't keep up this level of success.

(narrator) In the 1970s, John Travolta had seen a meteoric rise to fame in two mega hits, Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

But as the '70s drew to a close, the decade that had launched him into superstardom was swiftly falling out of fashion.

By the time he had got to '78, '79, people were burning disco records, people were smashing disco records.

-I hate disco became a thing.

-He'd play a role where you're the world's most famous disco dancer and then disco goes out of fashion.

Well, there's always the danger that you might go out of fashion as well.

(narrator) Travolta had experienced the devastating losses of both his girlfriend and his beloved mother to cancer.

Travolta felt intense pressure to live up to his earlier successes.

(Kate) I mean, you're lucky in a career if you get one film that does what Saturday Night Fever or Grease, it just doesn't happen.

So to have that bar to constantly keep aspiring to kind of gets debilitating so you don't want to make a decision.

(narrator) There were some roles on the horizon with the potential to keep him at the top.

(Wensley) He was offered a script called An Officer and A Gentleman and he was supposed to be the lead and he turned it down.

That was one where I think the rest of us were like, "We really like this."

There was just something about it that he didn't-- -he didn't see.

-Travolta had another reason -for not taking the part.

-He hadn't finished his pilot training, so, you know, "I'm not sure I want to do An Officer and A Gentleman so I think I'm going to let someone else sweep -Debora Winger off her feet."

-That someone else was an up and coming actor called Richard Gere who took the role after John Travolta turned it down.

(Kat) Richard Gere obviously became the breakout star of the '80s, but that's also because he starred in films in which Travolta was due to star.

(narrator) This wasn't the only role that Travolta rejected -that went to Richard Gere.

-He basically quit American Gigolo, they were willing to shutdown and wait for him but he just pulled out of it.

(Kate) He just felt like he couldn't do it justice in that moment and he begged Paramount to let him out of doing that film, which they said yes to, but in order to say yes they wanted to have his next two pictures.

(narrator) This agreement left him contractually bound to Paramount but Travolta didn't like the roles they were offering.

(Kate) And then it just seemed to get longer and longer between projects, and when that happens then I think it gets harder to make a decision as to what you want to do because so much attention is going to be placed on it you don't want to make a mistake.

(Ali) It's a bad time for him, he kept turning down good opportunities and the opportunities he did take didn't work, didn't connect.

Further to this, all of the uncool worries were pilling up.

This is the Grease guy, you know, this is the disco guy.

Do you want him in your movie?

Is he going to make you money?

No, not really.

(narrator) With his career now in free fall, -he was finding it hard to cope.

-He's talked about depression.

It's understandable, I mean, it was all going so well and then it wasn't, he became a joke, and it all happened so quickly.

(narrator) Finally, Paramount offered a script that Travolta agreed to.

It was to be directed by Rocky star Sylvester Stallone.

(Stayin' Alive plays) ♪ (movie narrator) This is Tony Manero.

♪ He's got the looks.

(Kate) They obviously wanted him to do a sequel to Saturday Night Fever that he kept shying away from and shying away from, but in order to fulfill that obligation to Paramount, eventually, he decided to do it.

(narrator) Travolta revisited the role of a now maturing Tony Manero.

(James) It was going to put him in the spotlight again even if the movie wasn't that great it would get a lot of press because it was a sequel to a massive success and maybe John thought that's what people wanted to see him doing.

(Anna) It is everything that's bad about the '80s in many ways.

I think it's hugely kitsch, it's a lot of writhing around in leotards, a very, very strange film.

(narrator) The film did well at the box office but did nothing to boost Travolta's kudos as an actor.

Backwards steps for him personally because he's back to playing that sort of character he's trying to get away from.

He wanted to be known as an actor, you know, not as a dancer, he loved the dancing but he was an actor.

He learned to dance because he was a great actor, and I think in the '80s he was really trying to get away from that, he was searching -for the new John Travolta.

-His search continued.

In 1984, he took a role in a film called Perfect.

(upbeat music) (movie narrator) John Travolta... -You are so hot.

-...Jamie Lee Curtis... -I like being the best.

-...in a James Bridges film.

-Perfect.

-Perfect is about an undercover journalist played by John Travolta who is required to go into aerobics classes run by Jamie Lee Curtis' character as some kind of investigation, and so, therefore, he must dress up in short shorts -and thrust a lot.

-The look on his face is amazing, he's really into it, he's really enjoying it.

So yeah, the shorts are scarily short though.

(Kate) Wow, what was everybody thinking, you know.

(narrator) Despite Travolta's enthusiasm, the film was a flop.

His career had now hit rock bottom.

(Kathryn) I remember John did say that picking non-hit movies -was a bad habit of his.

-He did a string of really, really bad, unprofitable movies.

So what happened to him happens to everybody.

You do a bunch of bad movies, your stock goes down, and nobody wants you.

(soft music) (narrator) But despite his failing career, Travolta was given a chance to shine in 1985 -by royal appointment.

-He went to the White House for a presidential dinner and it was strongly suggested to him that Princess Diana, who was also in attendance, would very much like him to ask her to dance.

(interviewer) John, are you going to dance with the Princess tonight?

-If she'd like me to.

-It was a really extraordinary moment and it was photographed and shown around the world.

(Deney) When I saw him dance with Princess Diana, he had a glow about him, his face was glowing.

He was smiling and it was almost like he had always wanted to do this.

(Kate) That was a high point for him, he loved her.

She had that vulnerability that he had.

He had had unhappiness with the losses in his life.

She wasn't happy at that period of time.

I imagine that they had a lot in common.

Really touchingly actually, Travolta has commented on that movement as being a real highlight in an otherwise fairly dire career decade for him.

(narrator) After this brief burst of global stardom, it will be another four years before Travolta's next film.

To cope with this low period, he took to the skies.

♪ If he's ever having a bad day, he'll go fly a plane.

He said that's what keeps him sane.

(Kate) I think there's a nostalgia that goes with it and there's a romance that goes with it.

Back in the '60s when he was a boy, flying was romantic.

You know, you got dressed up, they served lovely food, and he knew every single detail about every single plane.

You know, he collected schedules, flight schedules.

He'd also make pretend tickets to give to his family when he was a little boy, pretend tickets.

And when he was a big boy too, he had tickets.

(narrator) In 1992, Travolta was inspired to write and illustrate a storybook called Propeller One-Way Night Coach.

(Kate) He actually wrote a children's book about an eight-year-old boy's first flight and it's so quintessentially John and there's so much of John in that book, it's an homage to not only flying but also to his mom.

(narrator) Actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was one of John's passengers and witnessed the transformation.

(Lawrence) He became a different guy when he had to fly the plane.

He was very serious, he had a whole checklist, he checked everything, and he touched down easily.

To this day, I'm still impressed by that because I saw a John that I didn't know.

You know, this very serious, to the rules, very precise person.

So I was impressed with that, of course.

-He's a damn, damn good pilot.

-So good that in the late '80s, with his movie career seemingly over, -he considered switching jobs.

-His career was going so badly at that time that he was seriously contemplating that once he had all his pilot's qualifications he would work for an airline full time as a pilot -and quit Hollywood.

-When you're an actor, they always say you have to have something to fall back on.

He could always do that.

He got jet rated.

He spent a lot of time at American Airlines Flight School.

(narrator) Travolta didn't ditch the day job and in the late '80s he was offered a role that would put him back on the map.

(movie narrator) It's the most natural thing in the world.

-No.

-Yes.

-No.

-It's a beautiful, -magical experience.

-Saint Jerome's Hospital.

-John Travolta.

-Come on, breathe deep, -breathe deep.

-Don't try to help me just drive!

(tires screeching, shouting) (Wensley) Look Who's Talking was something that he clearly didn't really want to do but felt obliged to do to make a living.

(narrator) But ironically, this role was exactly what he needed.

(Kat) It did absolutely amazingly at the box office and it spawned two sequels, so that at least gave Travolta some financial security and allowed him -to keep flying his planes.

-I don't think it got him any of those proverbial call points being in this movie at all, what it did do is prove to studio executives that John Travolta has been undeniably in a successful film and sometimes that's just what you need to have that meeting, to have that discussion, to maybe get a better chance at getting a better role.

(narrator) It had been a decade since Travolta mania had swept the world, his career had now plummeted to rock bottom.

His credibility was at an all time low.

In 1987, John took a role in a film called The Experts.

On set, he met someone who would change his life.

(Wensley) John met an actress called Kelly Preston on the set of a low budget TV movie.

(narrator) Through him she became a scientologist.

(Wensley) And this gave them obviously a lot in common.

They both had a rough ride earlier in their lives and this formed a connection between them.

Kelly was just a hardcore scientologist.

She was in for the whole thing.

(narrator) Two years later, the pair were married in a scientology style ceremony in Paris.

And shortly after, a baby arrived named Jet.

(soft music) While Travolta had found happiness in his personal life, his career had stalled.

But he was about to cross paths with a Hollywood figure who would be his salvation.

♪ (Ali) Quentin Tarantino at this point was the award-winning wunderkind who had released, produced, created this cult classic instant super hit, Reservoir Dogs.

(mellow music) (narrator) Tarantino wanted to cast Travolta in his next film.

(Ali) All the big names wanted to be in the business of Quentin Tarantino, what would he do next?

It turns out, he'd do Pulp Fiction and he's cast him of Grease?

Him of Welcome Back, Kotter?

-What are you thinking?

-I remember thinking, Are you serious, Quentin?

I mean, I love Grease but this is the guy from Grease and loads of flop movies in the '80s.

-What are you talking about?

-But the film studio pushed back, refusing to cast Travolta.

Tarantino made it a deal breaker.

Threatening to take the project elsewhere.

(James) It took persuading to the film company to put John Travolta in a movie because his stock was so low.

To have a kind of washed up star like John Travolta seemed a bit odd, you know, I think John Travolta was unsure.

This is not a role you turn down.

Quentin Tarantino at this point is the hottest director on the planet and he's hunting for you for take a role and you go, "Not sure, Quentin.

Not sure, I'll have a think about it."

(narrator) Travolta agreed to do the film, taking a much reduced fee.

The role, a hitman and heroin addict, was unlike anything he played before.

Playing Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction was the most important role John Travolta ever took because it transformed him from this heartthrob -into a dark, menacing figure.

-His portrayal in Pulp Fiction was shocking, funny, disgusting, loved it.

It wasn't John Travolta that we knew.

-And that's why we loved it.

-Travolta was given the chance to show his comedic abilities in scenes -that mixed humor and violence.

-After years in the wilderness being ignored by all of his peers and nobody wanting to take a meeting with him, this was an amazing opportunity for him.

(narrator) The role may have been different but the film made some knowing nods to his early career.

(Anna) John Travolta and Uma Thurman are having dinner and there's a contest for dancing.

(David) The dancing scene with Uma Thurman is classic.

Without showing big moves, without looking like a dancer, he just looks like a guy who knows how to dance but he's a kind of a sinewy mover, but he's giving you a flashback.

He's going, "Yeah, I'm this guy too.

Remember John Travolta?

This is John Travolta as a hitman."

(Kathryn) It's genius though, it's genius.

I mean, this... Oh please.

(narrator) The film premiered in 1994 at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or, one of the most prestigious awards in the industry.

Travolta's career was reborn.

(soft music) (Kathryn) I could tell by his reaction that he thought, "My god, is it possible that I can have a comeback like this?"

(David) It was perfect for him.

It was the part he needed in the movie he needed -at the time he needed it.

-The public is really so happy -that you're back.

-I'm just as thrilled -as they are, probably more.

-Pulp Fiction really is one of the--if not the greatest comeback of all time.

(narrator) In Tarantino, Travolta had found someone who believed in him as an actor.

It was the support he'd been looking for.

(Kat) Travolta ended up sort of finding another surrogate parent.

He was the one who made him wake up and go, "Look, you cannot keep hiding away, you've gotta start saying yes to things."

John got very emotional about being rescued by Quentin Tarantino, having his career resurrected.

(narrator) Travolta's rollercoaster career was heading skywards again, but despite the comeback, -self-inflicted disaster.

-I don't know what anyone involved was thinking.

(narrator) And yet more tragedy lay ahead.

(Kathryn) It was devastating.

He actually said he didn't think he would recover.

(narrator) In 1995, John Travolta was propelled to the top of Hollywood's A-list again thanks to Tarantino -and a role in Pulp Fiction.

-This was his comeback in no uncertain terms, everybody loves a comeback.

If anything, he came back bigger than he was before.

(narrator) And thanks to roles in films such as Face/Off and Primary Colors, Travolta's stock went up and so did the paychecks.

(Ali) The roles that John Travolta took after Pulp Fiction were giving him quite a lot of money.

We're talking three million dollars plus.

(narrator) Travolta's newfound power in Hollywood gave him the chance to pursue a project he cared deeply about.

A film based on a book by scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called Battlefield Earth.

(Tony) For many years after he became a success, John Travolta wanted to bring L. Ron Hubbard material -to the big screen.

-He went around all these different studios saying, "I've got this idea, it's my passion project, I'm on the up now, I'm cool."

(narrator) But he struggled to find a studio to take on this film about evil aliens.

Travolta eventually secured independent financing and was so keen to make it he invested five million dollars of his own into the film.

Just as quickly as he regained his reputation in Hollywood, Battlefield Earth threatened to destroy it.

As soon as we knew what John Travolta looked like, it was going to be a flop.

He's an eight-foot alien in moon boots and with dreadlocks.

(Ali) They're wearing stilts, there are terrible teeth and eye makeup and lenses.

This handsome leading man is now looking like some sort of train wreck or a zombie that's been pulled out of the ground.

I don't know what anyone involved was thinking.

Every single frame is a little bit, "What's going on here?"

Cackling, evil cackling, even more evil cackling.

(narrator) The film was a failure on all fronts and seriously damaged John's credibility.

(Kat) It was so unfortunate that it comes just as his own career renaissance is happening because, I mean, this is one of the worst reviewed films ever made, it was just an absolute disaster.

(narrator) But in 2007, Travolta proved that making unexpected choices could pay off when he returned to his roots in a musical.

(Ali) John Travolta hadn't appeared in one since Grease.

So what is that?

Thirty years later he thinks, "Now's the time.

I'm going to be in a musical.

What will my role be?

I will play Edna, a woman in the middle age of her life who would require her to--sorry, him, to wear a fat suit and sing and dance."

He did not do things by halves.

He thinks, "I'm getting back into the musical business.

I am going to set the dial to extra hard," and I salute him for giving it an amazing bash.

There are sequences where he is dancing people off the screen.

Playing Edna in Hairspray was a really brave and a surprising choice.

All of Travolta's successful roles up to that point had been very male, very masculine, very alpha, and here he is, successfully and wonderfully playing a women.

(narrator) Travolta had got himself back on track, but as ever, after the highs would come the lows and this time it was a tragedy that would push anyone to the limits of despair.

(news reporter) John Travolta's 16-year-old son has died.

Police say Jet Travolta had a medical episode Friday while vacationing with his family in the Bahamas.

(narrator) Jet had suffered from lifelong health problems.

(Wensley) It was only after his death that we learned that he'd been suffering from autism and had been having fits frequently.

(Kate) Losing a child is--how do you cope with that?

(narrator) This unthinkable tragedy was almost too much -for Travolta to bear.

-Obviously it was... uh, devastating.

He actually did he didn't think he would recover.

He didn't think he'd even come out of his bedroom.

(somber music) (narrator) In 2010, a year after Jet's death, Travolta revealed the pain of losing his son.

(John) You're--you're kind of a sinking ship and you need all the king's horses and all the king's men to keep your head afloat and we had it.

We had it with our church, we had it with our friends, and we had it with the public.

I mean, they were unanimous on their support for us -in the last year.

-And you're doing okay?

(John) Yeah, we're--it's working.

I mean, it's been hard, we've worked every day on it as a family and as individuals and it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me, bar none.

(narrator) After Jet's death, Travolta retreated from the limelight to be with his wife and two remaining children.

He contemplated retiring from acting.

In 2016, he won praise for his return to TV in The People vs. O.J.

Simpson, playing larger than life lawyer, Robert Shapiro.

But two years later, Travolta's wife Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer, the same disease that had taken the lives of both his girlfriend Diana and his mother.

In 2020, after a long battle with her illness, tragedy struck once more.

Travolta was plunged into unimaginable grief yet again.

He announced her death on Instagram.

It was picked up and reported around the world.

Travolta said that he would be taking some time off to be with his children, Ella and Benjamin.

(Wensley) There was a feeling in Hollywood and elsewhere of great sympathy for him obviously.

-He has been through a lot.

-John Travolta's life and career -has been one of dizzying highs.

-He has had -an incredible career.

-John is a wonderful actor, but he has that extra little bit.

It's the combination of the looks he was blessed with, the fact that when he smiles a room lights up.

-And devastating lows.

-John's had a wonderful life, but he's had a lot of tragedies.

It doesn't matter who you are, the tragedy is human -and it humbles you.

-It's almost as if every important stage of John Travolta's life has been accompanied by the death of someone close to him.

(narrator) At times he struggled to take control of his career.

(Kathryn) I would describe John Travolta's career as a rollercoaster ride.

-I think he would too.

-Yeah, it's the big dipper.

(Kathryn) Sometimes he hasn't wanted to take the ride.

I don't blame him, but only the strongest survive.

(narrator) He remains a consummate performer and the star of some of the most iconic films in movie history.

(David) John Travolta is a Hollywood icon.

He's bigger than the movies.

He's bigger than the successes.

He's bigger than the failures.

John Travolta stands above all of that.

(Kate) To have set trends, to have had movies that have been that successful, and to truly have been, at one moment in time, -the biggest star in the world.

-Travolta is still recovering from the latest tragedy to scar his life, but the time may soon be right for the comeback king to return.

(James) I want John Travolta to do a John Travolta and come back.

(Kathryn) He's going to come back with a lot of baggage.

Those bags are packed, now unpack them -for the world to see.

-You can never write him off.

The setback is the set up for the comeback, and reinvention is what he's all about.

(Kate) Yeah, there'll be a comeback and I can't wait.

I think it will be great.

(bright music) ♪