Patrick Swayze, who soared to stardom in “Dirty Dancing” and ascended to icon status as a deceased lover in “Ghost,” died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist Annett Wolf.
The actor had kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting “The Beast,” an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. It drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran last winter, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
Swayze, whose work on “The Beast” was singled out as being particularly compelling, said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making the show because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
In fact, the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia in January while promoting “The Beast,” which premiered Jan. 15. He had been scheduled to attend the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Los Angeles at the time to tub-thumb the show but was taken ill and couldn’t attend.
It was first reported in March 2008 that the actor was being treated for inoperable Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In an ABC interview in January, Swayze said it “seemed likely” he would live for two more years.
A trained dancer and gymnast, the athletic Swayze was a swooner as a romantic lead, garnering his first of three Golden Globe nominations for his electrifying performance in “Dirty Dancing.”
The 1987 movie showcased Swayze’s dual abilities as a dancer and actor. He also composed and performed a song for the movie, “She’s Like the Wind,” which became a hit. And his line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” — which he directed at Jennifer Grey character’s father, played by Jerry Orbach — became a classic movie one-liner.
Swayze turned down an offer of $6 million to appear in a sequel but 17 years later popped up in a cameo role in “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.”
Swayze followed “Dirty Dancing” with two projects that capitalized on his sex appeal and athleticism: “Road House” and “Next of Kin,” both released in 1989.
He soared further as a romantic lead the following year with Jerry Zucker’s “Ghost.” His robust and delicate performance as a dead man who didn’t tell his girlfriend that he loved her while he was alive captivated audiences. Swayze and Demi Moore teamed for one of the most erotic scenes in mainstream movies when they sculpted clay to the Righteous Brothers’ meltingly romantic 1965 love song “Unchained Melody.”
Swayze earned his second Globe nomination for “Ghost” and became a poster boy, earning People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” cover in 1991.
That same year, Swayze parlayed his buff stuff into a role as a bank robber/surfer guru ‘Bohdi’ in “Point Break.”
While he was honored as ShoWest Male Star of the Year in 1992, Swayze’s star aura dimmed by appearances in a number of lackluster films in the 1990s, including “City of Joy,” “Father Hood,” “Three Wishes” and Black Dog.”
An intelligent and introspective performer, Swayze did on occasion play against his stud persona. He won acclaim, and his third Globe nom, as a drag queen in “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” (1995). Swayze also mixed things up by playing an antiseptic self-help guru in the subversive indie comedy “Donnie Darko” and as a golf instructor in the offbeat British comedy “Keeping Mum.”
Patrick Swayze filmography:
“The Outsiders,” 1983
“Red Dawn,” 1984
“Grandview, U.S.A.,” 1984
“Youngblood,” 1986
“Dirty Dancing,” 1987
“Road House,” 1989
“Next of Kin,” 1989
“Ghost,” 1990
“Point Break,” 1991
“City of Joy,” 1992
“Father Hood,” 1993
“To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar,” 1995
“Three Wishes,” 1995
“Black Dog,” 1998
“Donnie Darko,” 2001
“Keeping Mum,” 2005
“Powder Blue,” 2008
{Note}
On behalf of myself and the rest of the SciFiMafia (contributors and readers alike), I would like to extend our sympathies to all of Patrick Swayze’s family and friends. He created some movie memories that will be with all of us forever and he fought cancer with the kind of strength and courage that made his character ‘Dalton’ in Road House look weak by comparison. He will be missed.
