Grease star Stockard Channing has revealed that she is living a “reclusive” life in London, having moved to the capital just before the pandemic.
Born in New York, the American actress is best known for playing the rebellious Rizzo in movie musical Grease and US First Lady Abbey Bartlet in The West Wing.
But since 2019, Channing, 82, has been living in London, having relocated from Maine following the death of her long-term partner, cinematographer Daniel Gillham in 2014.
Speaking about her move, she told The Times: “Since just before Covid I’ve been living in London. My partner, Daniel, died in 2014 and it was more devastating than I realised; it had a lag effect. The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine.”
Channing explained that the move had “vaguely coincided” with Donald Trump’s election and changing politics in the US, and that she’d lived alone since the death of Gillham, who she’d been in a relationship with since 1990.
“I’m happy being a recluse,” she said. “I was married four times before Daniel and they all represent epochs of me. I grew up in the Sixties, reacting to that repressed notion of marriage and sexuality from the Fifties – kinda like Rizzo.
“Children were thought about and, yeah, I think about them now because it’d be great to have someone taking care of me. But hey, children can be just as selfish as everybody else out there.”
Since moving to the UK, Channing has predominantly focused on working in the theatre.
Having first appeared on the London stage in the Royal Court’s original production of Six Degrees of Separation in 1992, and once again in Jamie Lloyd’s Apologia at Trafalgar Studios, the Tony-winning actress has performed in a number of London productions since moving to the UK.
Channing, pictured with her Apologia cast members Laura Carmichael and Freema AgyemanDave Benett/Getty ImagesThese have included Night Mother at Hampstead Theatre in 2021, and a performance opposite Brie Larson in Daniel Fish’s Elektra at the Duke of York’s last year.
Now in her 80s, Channing shows no sign of slowing down. This September, she’ll appear on the big screen as she reprises her role opposite Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock in the long-awaited Practical Magic sequel.
The actress is also directing a production of Krapp’s Last Tape at the Edinburgh Fringe this month, telling The Times that she was ”not sure I’ll do anything after that”.
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“Acting is like everything in life; you never know what’s going to happen,” she said.