It all started with a letterman’s letter sent to him by a sister-in-law Cheryl Green, but it wasn’t an award Leif Green earned during his days at Wheeling Park High School.
Instead, it was his father’s, Milton Green, and Milton was a three-season letterman player for the Wildcats of Wheeling High from 1945-47. Cheryl discovered it in storage, and the large, gold “W” was showing its age. That’s where, in fact, the story gets interesting.
“Other than that mildewy smell, the letter was in great condition because it has never been sewn to anything,” Green explained. “So, I clean it up, but then I lost it in a parking lot somehow.
“I found it the next day and it had been rained on and was soaked,” the actor said. “But I dried it and cleaned it again, and then I sewed it to one of my sweatshirts and it’s awesome. I’m very proud of it.”
So proud he donned the sweatshirt, took a selfie, and posted it on the “Memories of Wheeling” page on Facebook.
“I’m a sentimental guy and that’s why I love to come home as often as I can,” Green said. “Now, I haven’t been home much since both of my parents passed away, but I did tell my brother that I owe him a trip home so that should happen in the near future. My roots are still in Wheeling, trust me.
“That’s why I do pay a lot of attention to the ‘Memories of Wheeling’ on Facebook because people bring up a lot of topics and places I can remember from my childhood, and when I got the photos of my father at Wheeling High, I just had to share them because I know how much other people enjoy that history. Those images really show how it was in Wheeling back in the late 1940s.” he said. “That was before Elvis and rock and roll, so they were enjoying the big band music that was very popular back then. It must have been so much fun.”
Grease Was the Word
John Travolta and Oliva Newton-John starred in the film “Grease” back in 1978 and the motion picture quickly became the highest-grossing musical movie of all time.
The story was based on about 10 high school students at a California high school back in the 1950s and it featured a couple of love stories and terrific comedy with a star-studded cast. The sequel, however, did not offer as great a cast, as funny a script, nor the same quality of musical performers.
“I had always heard that ‘you never know where your big break is going to come from,’ and there I was not getting one role but because I had auditioned, I got a completely different role in what everyone thought was going to be a really big movie,” Green said. “Now, I had seven more auditions before I got cast for the part and I didn’t care that it was the sequel to Grease with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. I was just trying to get acting work.
“Grease 2 was a big deal because Grease was so popular and famous,” he said. “My thought was that it was bound to be a success, but it ended up being a colossal failure by many people’s standards back in 1982. I mean, it did come out the same day E.T. did, so that didn’t help.”
But Green has no regret.
“Hey, Grease 2 just couldn’t live up to the affection toward Grease, but for me as a starting-out actor, I couldn’t have been happier because it was a top-of-the-line production at Paramount Studios. That’s where I went to work every day and that was a dream come true.
“Being involved with that movie had all of the appeal in the world to me because it was a musical and it was a period piece,” he insisted. “And everyone in that movie – even Michelle Pfieffer – we’re all new to everything about making a musical like that so it was impressive, and we loved every moment of it. We soaked it, had the time of our lives, and hoped for the best.”
Fly Like an Eagle
Green was graduated from Wheeling Park High School in 1978, but he did not attend his classes during his senior year.
He did the work, though, but Green accomplished his grades by communicating with his educators via snail mail.
“It was old-school remote,” Green said with a laugh. “But I owe those teachers so much because they let me chase my dreams while still getting my high school diploma.”
He did that so he could join the Young Americans, an organization that, according to its website, “provides education, guidance and inspiration to young performers from any and all walks of life. Through our performing arts college, music outreach programs, and a variety of other performing opportunities, we give these aspiring entertainers the opportunity to hone their talents and the courage to expand their dreams.”
Green, in fact, currently is serving as the chief executive officer of The Young Americans.
“I remember when I left the Young Americans after my three years with them, I wasn’t an amateur anymore and I got my card with the Actor’s Guild. After that, I was going to audition after audition and I did a couple of commercials and I was off in the distance in some TV show. But I was working, and I was making the rounds,” Green recalled. “I got an agent, and went to New York for a summer to see what could happen there.
“But then I got a call to come back to California because some folks with a movie that I had auditioned for were interested,” he said. “I had auditioned for a play called ‘The Runaways,’ but even though I didn’t get that part, those folks thought I would be good in the ‘Davey’ part in Grease 2.”
During his career, the Wheeling native continued acting, became an activist during the AIDS pandemic, and he also followed his passion for animation and has worked as a production manager at Walt Disney Feature Animation and Warner Animation Group. His resume includes “Hercules, Tarzan, Mulan, Brother Bear 2, Osmosis Jones, The Looney Tunes Back in Action, Space Jam 2, The Lego Movie 2, and DC League of Super Pets.”
“I know there are some folks out there that still remember me from Grease II and that I am from the Wheeling area, but the young people today at Wheeling Park High School have no idea that I am an alumnus and that I’ve been in California this whole time,” Green said. “But I still love to come home to visit family and to see all of the changes that have been taking place since I left Wheeling more than 40 years ago.
“I love coming home,” he said. “I’ve noticed that a lot of buildings have gone away, but I’ve seen new things, too, and that tells me my hometown is still there to come home to, and I’ll be doing that again soon.”
