Zoneboy
05-25-2013, 10:32 AM
Link (http://www.theage.com.au/national/olivia-newtonjohns-sister-rona-dies-of-cancer-20130525-2n481.html#ixzz2UJZxEfcB)
Olivia Newton-John's sister Rona - mother of singer Tottie Goldsmith and first wife of Melbourne nightclub king Brian Goldsmith - has died in the US.
Rona, 70, a Melbourne model and actress who left in the 1960s to seek fame and fortune - only to live in her younger sister's shadow - was diagnosed with brain cancer last month.
Olivia Newton-John was expected to issue a statement on Saturday night.
Her sister married Jeff Conaway, Olivia's co-star in Grease in the role of Kenickie, in 1980. They had a son, Emerson Newton-John, now a professional racing driver.
The marriage lasted only five years. Conaway, who battled drug addiction for many years, died almost two years ago to the day, on May 27, 2011.
Announcing her sister's illness last month, Olivia Newton-John, whose name is on the Austin Hospital's cancer centre which opened last year, said: ''As a cancer 'thriver' myself … I am very aware of the importance of love, support and family during this journey.'' The singer postponed a residency in Las Vegas to be with her sister.
The Newton-John sisters are the daughters of former Master of Ormond College at Melbourne University, Brinley Newton-John, and his wife, the late Irene - who was the daughter of Max Born, a Nobel Prize winner for physics and close friend of Albert Einstein.
Rona had been working for several years on a memoir, The Dark Side Of Charisma, listed on Amazon.com as scheduled for release in June this year.
The publicity material says it ''gives a vivid picture of show business and theatrical life and that of the film world in the '60s and '70s; and of a star who worked with the directors Harry Saltzman and Don Kirchner in Hollywood, and the actors Stanley Baker, James Clavell and Peter O'Toole on the other side of the Atlantic.''
http://images.smh.com.au/2013/05/25/4437721/art_n_njs_2505-300x0.jpg
Olivia Newton-John's sister Rona - mother of singer Tottie Goldsmith and first wife of Melbourne nightclub king Brian Goldsmith - has died in the US.
Rona, 70, a Melbourne model and actress who left in the 1960s to seek fame and fortune - only to live in her younger sister's shadow - was diagnosed with brain cancer last month.
Olivia Newton-John was expected to issue a statement on Saturday night.
Her sister married Jeff Conaway, Olivia's co-star in Grease in the role of Kenickie, in 1980. They had a son, Emerson Newton-John, now a professional racing driver.
The marriage lasted only five years. Conaway, who battled drug addiction for many years, died almost two years ago to the day, on May 27, 2011.
Announcing her sister's illness last month, Olivia Newton-John, whose name is on the Austin Hospital's cancer centre which opened last year, said: ''As a cancer 'thriver' myself … I am very aware of the importance of love, support and family during this journey.'' The singer postponed a residency in Las Vegas to be with her sister.
The Newton-John sisters are the daughters of former Master of Ormond College at Melbourne University, Brinley Newton-John, and his wife, the late Irene - who was the daughter of Max Born, a Nobel Prize winner for physics and close friend of Albert Einstein.
Rona had been working for several years on a memoir, The Dark Side Of Charisma, listed on Amazon.com as scheduled for release in June this year.
The publicity material says it ''gives a vivid picture of show business and theatrical life and that of the film world in the '60s and '70s; and of a star who worked with the directors Harry Saltzman and Don Kirchner in Hollywood, and the actors Stanley Baker, James Clavell and Peter O'Toole on the other side of the Atlantic.''
http://images.smh.com.au/2013/05/25/4437721/art_n_njs_2505-300x0.jpg