Morning Man Classic: John Travolta!

He had me at The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and today he turns 71!

Today we celebrate 1970s John Travolta, that impossibly gorgeous guy who was the breakout star of TV’s Welcome Back Kotter, the classic sitcom on which he played Sweathog Vinnie Barbarino.

He had started out the decade with guest spots on such shows as Medical Center, Emergency!, The Rookies and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law.

Then, after three years on Kotter and small roles in the films Carrie and The Devil’s Rain, Travolta’s career reached the stratosphere with his starring roles in the classics Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

The red hot streak was briefly halted with the release of Travolta’s third starring role opposite Lily Tomlin in Moment By Moment.

But by 1980, he was back on top with Urban Cowboy.

It would set a pattern in the coming decades of dizzying heights (Pulp Fiction, Hairspray, Get Shorty, Face/Off, Michael, Phenomenon, Broken Arrow) and box office bombs (Two of a Kind, Battlefield Earth, Lucky Numbers, Be Cool, Mad City).

Other notable films include Primary Colors, A Civil Action, The General’s Daughter, Ladder 49

He’s still working steadily and in 2017 was nominated for an Emmy for his performance as defense attorney Robert Shapiro in the miniseries American Crime Story and as one of the show’s producers, shared the Outstanding Limited Series Emmy.

His recent features films include Mob Land, Paradise City, The Fanatic, Gotti, The Poison Rose, and Cash Out.