Rona with Benny Hill
Rona Newton-John was an Australian actress, writer and model of Welsh ancestry whose career largely spanned the Seventies.
Rona was born in Cambridge, England on February 1, 1941. Her parents were Brinley Newton-John, a professor at Cambridge's King College and writer and photographer Irene Born, the daughter of German physicist Max Born. Her most famous relative is her sister, Olivia Newton-John, a well-known performer in the music industry and actress from the movie, "Grease," which also starred Rona.
Starting out as a model, Rona's good looks par laid her into an acting career, appearing in sketches on an episode of the TV series, "The Benny Hill Show" and "UFO" and appearances in the movies, "Brotherly Love," "Trog" and "Sordid Lives." She also recorded a song, "Just Us Two," with her sister in 1972, later turning up with Olivia as a guest on "The Mike Douglas Show" in 1979, preparing an English soup recipe.
Married at least twice with four children, Rona met her third husband, actor Jeff Conaway of the American TV-Series "Taxi", at an Allan Carr party during the filming of "Grease" in 1978; they were married for two years but divorced in 1985. Her sons are movie producer Brian Goldsmith and race car driver Emerson Newton-John.
Sadly, Rona was diagnosed with brain cancer April 23, 2013 and passed away May 24, 2013. A memoir she was writing, "The Dark Side of Charisma," is expected to be released posthumously.
