Cha Cha from ?Grease,? Annette Charles, Dies at 63
Actress Annette Charles, who played Cha Cha in the 1978 film "Grease," is dead.
Charles, 63, passed away at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, following complications from cancer. Her family confirmed that "Annette had recently started having difficulty breathing ... and when she went to the doctor she learned that she had a cancerous tumor in one of her lungs," TMZ reports.
Fans of "Grease" will remember Charles as Charlene "Cha Cha" DiGregorio, the ex-girlfriend of Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta.
Charles' most memorable scene is perhaps the one at the school dance, when Cha Cha, dressed in a sizzling black and blue number, steals Danny away from Sandy Olsen (Olivia Newton-John). Cha Cha and Danny go on to win the school's dance competition on national television.
"Grease" was the highest grossing movie of 1978 and has since made nearly $400 million worldwide.
Prior to "Grease," Charles appeared in several TV series including "Gunsmoke," "Mod Squad" and "The Bionic Woman." Her last TV project was "Magnum, P.I." in 1987, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The news of Charles' death comes just two months after the death of another "Grease" actor, Jeff Conaway, who played the loveable, hair-slicked Kenickie. Conaway died on May 27 after a long battle with drug abuse.
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