Danny Zuko is one of the main characters in Grease. He is also the boyfriend to Sandy Olson. He's the respected leader (possible founder) of the T-Birds, the Rydell High greaser gang.
Danny is portrayed by John Travolta in the 1978 film, by Aaron Tveit in the 2016 live performance, by Tom Parker in the 2017 UK touring production and by Nathan Parker in the 2017 play version (alongside his co-star and singer, Skye Hunt whom played Parker's love interest)
Appearance
He has black hair, and blue eyes and walks with a swagger. He is often seen with a cigarette, lit or not. He's always seen wearing a T-shirt tucked into black jeans with a black belt, and black penny loafers with white or black socks. Danny's hair is done up in an Elephant's trunk - a popular `greaser' style of the 1950s - and he's almost always seen with his black leather jacket with the T-Birds logo on the back, the only exception being towards the end of the movie, at the carnival, when he earned his Letterman sweater in track, and wore it in order to impress Sandy, in turn shocking his fellow T-Birds, as the rest of the school. He went back to his cool appearance when Sandy showed her new greaser look.
Personality
Danny has a stereotypical macho personality. During the summer when he met Sandy she claimed him to be gentle and sweet, however, once reunited with him in school, he put on a callous, macho façade, and she cried and called him "a fake and a phony!" Throughout the film, he showed himself to be very image-conscious, only acting on his true feelings towards the end of the movie. Danny is quite a show-off and seemingly perverted, claiming he and Sandy had sex during the events of Summer Nights' (which was a fabrication). This was also further proven in the scene in which Danny tried to have sex with Sandy while watching a Drive-In movie, ending up in physical pain when she slammed the car door on his crotch, then running away from his `Sin Wagon'. This also left him heartbroken, because to him sex was the best way to show how much he loved her (Sandy (Song)).
Despite all of his shortcomings and volatile temper - Warning Artie when he flipped a basketball too fast to Danny, and when Danny ended up sucker-punching large wrestling student Andy when the other had him pinned during a wrestling try-out - he was shown to be a very loyal friend (especially towards Kenickie) and of good nature, as he tried to act on his :D during the end of the movie instead of playing the macho like he previously did.
Trivia
- He is the leader of the T-Birds.
- He had an on again / off-again girlfriend named Sandy Olson that he claimed he saved from drowning over the summer - which was a tall tale.
- Before dating Sandy, he was a bit of a player, dating several girls, such as Betty Rizzo, Possibly Patty Simcox (assumed), and Cha-Cha.
- He shares similarities with Rizzo - they're both players and are the leaders of their groups - T-Birds and Pink Ladies.
Quotes
"Of course not. It's only the beginning"
"That's cool, baby. You know how it is. Rockin' and rollin and what not'"
"Sandy?!"
"I changed my mind, lets get outta here"
